JESUS: His Questions                                                                 5-28-06

“Can I Trust You?”   Audio

Luke 16:1-13 (11)

We are continuing to look at the questions that Jesus asked during His ministry here on earth.  “Who do people say that I am?”  That’s what Pastor Norm looked at last week.  The week before: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord’ and do not do what I say?”  And this week we are looking at another one.  This one revolves around the issue of trust.  In our Bible reading for this morning we will find Jesus asking: “Can I trust you?”

Trust is a critical component of relationships.  Some of you are in trouble in your marriage because you have broken your spouse’s trust.  You have said something or done something – maybe repeatedly – and the trust is gone.  When there is no trust, how can there be a healthy relationship?  There can’t be – either in families or friendships.

Nor can there be a healthy relationship with Jesus if we cannot trust Him, and if He cannot trust us. 

Some of you struggle in your relationship with Him because you don’t think you can trust Him.  You don’t think He has proven Himself to be trustworthy.  He has disappointed you.

Part of that comes from having a wrong theology, wrong beliefs about God.  If you believe God is to be your personal servant, and then He doesn’t serve you in the way you expect that He should, you will be disappointed.  You will feel you cannot trust Him.  But your theology was wrong.  God is not your personal servant.  He is not involved in your life to make you happy, to make everything in life go your way, to take away all your discomfort.  And until you understand that, you will find it hard to really trust God.

But did you know that your relationship with God is also affected by whether or not He can trust you?  His love for you is not affected, but His relationship with you certainly is.  And that’s what I want us to think about this morning.

Read Luke 16:1-13.

The story here, the parable, is a difficult one to come to grips with.  What I really want us to concentrate on is v.10-11.  But these two verses are connected in thought to verses 1-9.  So we have to at least look at this parable.

At first it seems incongruous that Jesus would commend this servant who essentially cheats his master in order to make things better for himself.  He is about to get fired.  So he lowers what his master’s creditors owe so that they might treat him more kindly after he is fired.

It’s likely that the rich man was a large landowner.  In Jesus’ day, those who owned a lot of land often would rent it out to people who could not afford to own their own land.  And their rent would consist of part of their crop.

My wife’s parents owned a wheat and cattle ranch a few miles northwest of Coulee City.  And to avoid inheritance taxes, they incorporated the ranch and over a period of time they gave their children and grandchildren shares in the ranch. They essentially gave it to their heirs before they died.

Now they are gone, and none of us are farmers.  I guess I’m the closest, but having a 50 x 75 foot garden is different than farming 3600 acres.  So we have rented it out to a man who farms it, and every other year he has to give a portion of the crop to the share-holders.  And with the price of wheat nowadays, we don’t get very much.  I wish there were a few oil wells on the property.

But that’s what it’s like in this story.  The landowner was probably an absentee landlord.  So he had a manager who handled it all for him.  And the manager was dishonest.  He had been embezzling funds from the man who owned the property, and was being called to account.

There are some things we need to take note of here.  The story, Jesus says in v.8, is about people of this world, rather than about people of the light.  The land-owner who commends the shrewd servant is not God.  “This is the way the people of the world handle situations like this” Jesus says.  It’s not that He is saying this is how we should do things.  It’s important that you understand that.

But here is the comparison.  He is saying that if we would be as earnest in our pursuit of spiritual wealth as the world is in its pursuit of material wealth, how much better off we would be.  It’s not the method He is commending, but rather the earnestness.

It comes down to the question of whom we are serving: God, or our material possessions.  Look at v.13 (read).

Earlier in this series of messages we looked at timeless principles Jesus gives us in the Gospels.  And we well could have looked at this one.  It’s a fact!  It’s a timeless principle: You cannot serve both God and money.  It’s one or the other. If you are the servant of your material possessions, you cannot at the same time be the servant of God.  That’s what Jesus said.  That’s what the Bible says.

Which brings us to the question Jesus asks in v.11 (read v.10-11).

Our material possessions are a test.  God is testing us to see if He can trust us, and if He finds He cannot trust us with material things, He will not entrust us with spiritual things.

This is an awesome truth.  Worldly wealth is not true riches.  V.11 contrasts worldly wealth with true riches, so they are not the same thing.

Please hear me carefully.  I am not saying that how you handle your money determines where you will spend your eternity.  This is not a salvation issue.  Your salvation is determined by your trust in Jesus as your Savior, not by your stewardship of your material things.  But there are spiritual blessings God wants to pour out on our lives that He cannot give to us because He cannot trust us.  We have proven untrustworthy in handling material things, so He withholds spiritual things.

As I wrote that this week, I began to think through the Bible to see if I could think of examples of this in either the O.T or N.T.

The first one that came to my mind was in Acts 5.  It’s the story of a husband and wife named Ananias and Sapphira.  They owned some property, and they sold it.  The money was theirs to do with whatever they wanted.  They kept some of the money for themselves, which was certainly acceptable, but they lied when they brought the rest of the money to the Apostles.  They told them that this was the entire amount they had gotten for the property.

They had rehearsed their story, and separately both told the same lie.  They were being dishonest with their finances, and both of them died for that dishonesty.  That’s pretty extreme, and the whole church was shaken by it.  But because they were not good stewards of their material things, their life and their ministry ended; God no longer entrusted them with spiritual things.

On the other hand I think of men like Abraham and Job, whom God blessed both materially and spiritually because He could trust them.

7 BIBLICAL GUIDELINES FOR MATERIAL POSSESSIONS.

I shared some of these about a year ago in a message, but we need to be reminded from time to time of these things.

1. It isn’t yours.  The Christian approach to finances is totally different than the world’s approach.  Some of you have been Christians a long time and you still don’t know the difference between the two.  The world says “You own it all.”  The Bible says “God owns it all.”  This is the foundation for our understanding of material possessions, and our foundation is different than the world’s,

Here’s what the Bible says:

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Psalm 24:1-2

Deut. 8:17-18 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”  But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…

1 Corin. 4:7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

It will make a great deal of difference how we spend our money if we really understand that it is God’s money that we are holding rather than our money.  According to the Bible, we are not owners; we are only stewards, managers of God’s property.  We are like the manager of a grocery store; we don’t own the groceries, but we are responsible for what happens to the groceries.

And since it’s God’s and not yours, why do you use it in gambling?  Would it be appropriate for me to take money from our building fund and go to the Casino with it?  And if that’s not acceptable, then it’s not acceptable for you to take God’s money and gamble with it either.  For you to win, someone else has to lose.  From our state run get rich scheme called the lottery to the local casinos, using God’s money for gambling is not pleasing to Him; it’s not an option for us if we want Him to bless us spiritually.

2. Live within your means.  This means we must tailor our standard of living to our current income level.  It means we don’t spend more than we earn.  It sounds so simple, but so many Christians ignore this guideline.

Proverbs 12:8 says Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant

than pretend to be somebody and have no food. 

So many people, even Christians, tailor their standard of living to those around them rather than to their income.  They try to keep up with the Joneses (sorry Rick and Jeff).  They pretend to be a somebody and they live beyond their means.  If their neighbors get a new car, then they have to have a new car.  If their neighbor puts in new landscaping then they need new landscaping.  If their neighbor gets a riding mower, then they need a riding mower.

Here are 3 reasons why people don’t live within their means:

1)                 Undisciplined desires.  Don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.  Don’t just walk up and down the aisles of the store to see what looks good.  Make a list, and buy what’s on the list. 

Much of today’s advertising is based on the premise that a lot of us don’t know how to discipline our desires. Impulse buying! Why do they have all those things around the check-stand in the stores?  They know that many of us will buy on impulse and don’t discipline our desires.

2)                 The pressure of pride.  When you get that irresistible urge, “I just have to have it”, check out your motive.  Is it necessary to have the latest and the biggest and the best, or is it your pride?  Our pride will cause us to buy things we don’t need and can’t afford.

3)                 Pressure from others.  To go here, to do this, to have that.  If you don’t have one, you’re just not with it.  If you don’t wear the right brand, you certainly can’t hang around with us.  As Christians we have to learn to say sometimes to our friends: “You know what, I just can’t afford to do that right now.”

If at some point God chooses to bless you more financially, then you will be able to do more.  But if for some reason you are not being blessed with an abundance of finances, don’t live as if you were.  That is not faith; it’s folly.  And usually it’s motivated by carnal motivations rather than spiritual ones.  Live within your means.

3. Provide for basic needs first.  1 Timothy 5:8 says If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.  The basic needs of your family first, non-essentials second.

Again, this sounds so simple to me, but I see people violate this all the time.  And then they blame God that they don’t have enough money to meet their needs.  “God has not been faithful to me”, they say.

Our basic needs are food, clothing, and shelter.  The first two Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount – not worrying about what we will eat, or what we will wear.  Paul talked about those two as well, and so did James.  But they don’t say anything about shelter.  I’m not sure why.  Certainly a place to call home is a necessity.

But beyond those three, things get less certain.  We may think a cell phone is a basic necessity, but is it really?  Is a car a basic necessity? It sure makes life easier, but is it an absolute necessity?  Or a TV?  Or an internet connection?  Or a Big Mac, fries, and a coke - supersized?  Do I really need new clothing, or will clothes from Valu Village do?

I grew up in a day when ladies all wore their best dress and men all wore suits and ties when we went to church.  Jesus doesn’t care if you come to church dressed like you are going to a wedding or dressed in jeans and a tee shirt.  Don’t dress immodestly or in ways that would draw attention to yourself.  But let’s not condemn others if they don’t dress like we do when they come to church.  God doesn’t look at our clothes; He looks at our heart.  And we can be all dressed up in our Sunday finest, and have hearts that are displeasing to God.

And don’t buy into this “You’re a King’s Kid and you deserve the best” teaching.  Take care of the basics first.  Keep your financial priorities in Biblical order, not worldly order.

As your pastor, let me give you one further word of counsel here.  If you are spending your money on non-essentials, don’t expect the church benevolence fund to pay for your essentials.  It’s just not going to happen.  We do have a benevolence fund, and we do help people in this congregation in their times of need – thousands of dollars every year.  But we are not here to bail you out if you foolishly spend your money on things that are not essential.

You may think that’s not very nice, but we are stewards of the money God puts into our trust as church leaders.  We are not here to remove God’s discipline from your life. 

He knows that sometimes the best way for us to learn to spend our money correctly is to suffer the consequences of spending our money incorrectly.

4. Pay your bills.

James 5:4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

Malachi 3:5 So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against…those who defraud laborers of their wages…says the LORD Almighty.

Proverbs 3:27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow”— when you now have it with you.

All of those verses say to me “Pay your bills.”  It’s so simple, but it’s so important.  There are many ways to steal, and neglecting bills that are due is one of them.  What a blight it is on the name of Christ when Christians say “I don’t have to worry about my bills; God is going to take care of them for me.”  The first part of that statement is true; according to the Bible we are not to worry about our finances.

But why is God obligated to cover for our financial irresponsibility?  Sin has consequences, and to violate the principles of Scripture that deal with our finances is sin.  Often God does not remove the consequences of our sin, even when we come to Him and find His forgiveness.  He wants to teach us through those consequences.

And although God will forgive us for the mishandling of His money, He likely will allow us the wonderful experience of untangling the mess we have gotten ourselves into.  Yes, He will be there to help us.  He will give us wisdom, and often bring to us people who can help us.  But He wants us to learn, and to grow through the experiences.

5. Avoid debt.  The Bible does not absolutely forbid debt, but it warns us of the danger of debt. 

Proverbs 22:7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the servant to the lender.  There is freedom in being debt free, of owing no man anything. But most of us here today are in debt; we have borrowed money to purchase something we did not have the money to buy.

For most of us, borrowing money to buy a home can be wise debt – if you can afford to make the payments, that is.  This again falls in the earlier point: live within your means.  Don’t buy a house that you can’t afford.  But even when you buy a house you can afford, you become a servant to the lender – that’s what the Bible says.

But other than a house, most of our debt is unwise debt.  Instead of saving money and buying when we have the money, we buy now and mortgage our future. 

We presume that we will have the resources in the future to pay for what we buy now.  And that’s why many people go bankrupt.  They thought they could pay in the future, but they found out they could not.  And the Bible says…

Psalm 37:21 The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.  Debt will prevent you from giving generously, and that’s what the Bible says that the righteous do.

6. Save for the future.  This past week I visited the Social Security office downtown.  When you turn 65, I’m told that’s what you are supposed to do.  I had to sign up for Medicare.  I can’t believe it!

And I was listening to a CD from Focus on the Family titled “The Pastor and His Money”.  They were talking at one point about how many pastors make no provision for their future, and when ill health or other circumstances force them to retire, all they have is a small Social Security check.

I’m glad someone gave me some wise counsel many years ago about putting money each month into our Assemblies of God retirement plan.  So when God says it’s time for me to change to a different phase of ministry rather than being a lead pastor, I might be able to afford to do that.

Proverbs 21:30 says In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

Do you devour all you have, or are you putting something aside for the future?  I hear Christians sometimes say: “I don’t have to be concerned about the future…to make any provision. God will take care of me.”

Worry about the future?  That’s not Biblical.  Be concerned about the future and make provision for the future?  Listen to what the Bible says:

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer

and gathers its food at harvest.  Proverbs 6:6-8

God has given even the tiny, insignificant ant enough wisdom to know that it needs to make provision for the future, to save for the future. 

Financial planning is Biblical.  It is Biblical to save money! Not to hoard it, not to love it, not to put your trust in it, but to make sensible provision for future needs. 

God have even given the ants enough sense to know that, and suggests we can learn from them.

We don’t have time to go through it, but the story of Joseph in Egypt is another wonderful example of our need to save.  Famine was coming, but God showed Joseph that first there would be 7 good years, 7 years where they could save for the coming hard times.  You can read about it in Genesis 41.

7. Help others in need.  My observation is that when people are generous in helping others, God blesses them with even more.  He has found He can trust that person not to hoard it all for himself, so He gives them even more.

Proverbs 11:25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. 

Proverbs 21:13 If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered. 

If you will read your Bible with an open heart, you will find that God is concerned about the poor.  You will find His concern for the poor over and over in both Old and New Testaments.  And as His followers, He wants us to be concerned about the poor and needy also, concerned to the point of doing something.

Ephesians 4:28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

1 John 3: 17-18 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Let me bring this to a close.  Can Jesus trust you?  If He can’t trust you with material things, He won’t trust you with spiritual things.  Giving attention to being a good steward of the material things of life is not unspiritual.  It’s absolutely necessary if you want Jesus to trust you with greater spiritual riches: more opportunities to minister, more lives transformed through your witness, more glory being given to the Lord you love and want to serve.