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Scripture Reading:
NRS Luke 16:1 Then Jesus said
to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges
were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So
he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give me
an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.'
3 Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my
master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and
I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am
dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' 5 So,
summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you
owe my master?' 6 He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He
said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' 7
Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred
containers of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and make it eighty.' 8
And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly;
for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own
generation than are the children of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends
for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may
welcome you into the eternal homes. 10 "Whoever is faithful in
a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very
little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been
faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12
And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give
you what is your own? 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave
will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
When John
Wesley wrote this sermon in 1760, life in England was difficult for the common
person. Many of the people of his day had migrated to the towns and cities
where jobs were available. The Industrial revolution was in full bloom and many
of the factory workers lived lives of scarcity. They worked 12 to 14 hours a
day for company script that could only be spent in the company store or
numerous bars that sat outside the gates of the factories. Half the population
lived lives barely surviving. Gin was cheap and available and Wesley led many a
revival to the common people preaching against alcoholism. Religion was on the
decline in the institutional church, sounds a bit like today, and the great
George Whitefield and John Wesley preached on the streets. In fact many
historians report that if not for John Wesley’s revival there would have been a
civil war in England. So John Wesley writes this sermon amidst this current
reality in his country. It by the way was one of his longest sermons though I
will not try to break that record today.
We have all
heard it said that money is the root of all evil. Matthew 6:21 reminds us that
wherever our treasure is there is where our hearts will be. The only time God
tells us to test God is in Malachi 3:10 where God tells us to bring our whole
tithe to the storehouse and if we do that, God will open up the floodgates of
heaven and pour out blessing in abundance. Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 5:10
that whoever loves money never has enough and whoever loves wealth will never
be satisfied with what they have. And Hebrews 13:5 reminds us to keep our lives
free from the love of money and to be content with what we have because God
tells us that God will never leave us or forsake us. Jesus spoke more on the
love of money than any other subject. Jesus constantly reminded us that we
should place God first and God would provide for us. I can honestly say that
over the course of my own life God has been constant in providing the things
that I needed.
Wesley begins
his sermon reminding us what God wants us to know. But he tells us that the
fault does not lie in the money itself, rather, the fault lies in how we use
it. Personal wealth is provided that we might do well with what we have. He
remarked in his sermon that in Jerusalem, the disciples all gave what they had
to the common pool that no one may find themselves in need for the essentials
of life, food, shelter and comfort. The abundance we have is a gift of God and
it is placed in the hands of God’s children to provide food for the hungry,
drink for the thirsty and clothing for the naked.
Wesley would
tell us to gain all that you can in life.
He is saying that we are to work at being successful so that we can receive all
the money and wealth that we can acquire in our life. This may seem a
remarkable statement considering the scriptures that he has quoted and the
direction we expected him to go. But he tells us to work diligently to earn as
much as we can as fast as we can. He remands us to work honestly with integrity
to earn it, doing whatever labor or skill that God has given us to earn our
way. He admonishes us to earn that wealth in ways that do not deceive or steal
from others in our efforts to get rich, but to find ways to use our hands and
our minds to find success. Do not engage in illegal or immoral behaviors and do
nothing to hurt your neighbor as you earn your wages. In today’s world there
are so many ways to earn a living honestly if we are willing to set aside our egos
and pride. I often struggle with young people in this area who will not move to
where jobs are more abundant or will not take jobs they consider beneath them
but instead remain out of work fighting alcoholism and addiction. This was true
when John Wesley wrote this sermon and it is still true today.
Next Wesley
tells us to save all we can. Rather
than spend our money on new cars, new houses and new clothes, learn to be
content with what we have and put our earnings in places that grow the money
and accumulate it for the future. I wish that someone had taught me the
80-10-10 rule when I was younger. The rule is to learn to live on 80% of your
wages, save 10% in a place that you will not touch and give the other 10% away
to those who are in need. What a wonderful rule to reach our young people. Our
children’s moment showed the power of compound interest in just 30 days’ time.
We are told not to waste money on extravagant spending that we really don’t
need. Marketing people are working hard to separate you from your money and
will do anything to convince you how much you need something. We are not to
worry about what others will say and we should not spend our money seeking the
praise of others. Interestingly Wesley also says that we should not throw money
away on our children or save it to leave to them when we die so that they can
squander it away. I suspect he is quoting from the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
We have been
told to gain all that we can as fast as we can and then to save all that we
can. I remember in the 1970’s living in North Dakota, times had been good and
young farmers were buying new combines and farm equipment. I worked briefly
with an older farmer who had his old tractor and worked at keeping everything
in tip top shape. He said that while the price of sunflowers and alfalfa, the
two primary crops back then were at an all-time high, that the prices would
fall. And when they did, the payments for those new combines would still be
due. Wise wisdom from one who had lived through the Great Depression.
So Wesley
comes to the final words of this sermon, Give
all that you can. Wesley reminds us that we are all stewards of this great
creation. That God put us here to care for all of creation. That means that we
should care about how the land is cared for, how the air is kept clean from
pollution and how the waterways are kept clean for drinking water and
recreation. Fish cannot survive when we contaminate the seaways and rivers and
when there are no fish to catch, no crops to harvest because the land is no
longer fertile and the air is poison, we will all starve. I often wonder at the
increase in skin cancer and digestive issues and the reality that our air and
water is not the clean water of our grandparents. But John Wesley tells us to
give all that we can to the world around us to make it a better place. We are
told to love our neighbors and that love is best seen when we assure that no
one in hungry, no one is without shelter and warmth. Jesus reminded us in Mark
12:17 to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. Matthew 6:
19-20 tells us to not store up treasures here on other that can be taken or
will not last but to store up our treasures in heaven where we will receive
eternal reward.
Examine all
that we do through prayer and guidance from the scriptures that God wants us to
know. Gain all that you can as fast as
you can, save all that you can and give all that you can. Sounds like a recipe
for success.
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