Title: Are you faithful?

In the parable of today’s Gospel, we have a man, who was doing such a lousy job that he was getting fired for it, being praised in the end for looking out for himself. What gives?

The Lord Jesus was telling this parable on the Pharisees. They were His model for the manager who had wasted the possessions of the rich man. God is the rich man, the boss. The Pharisees had completely squandered the possessions that God had put into their hands.

The possessions were God’s doctrines: the Law and the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins, a merciful heart, and love for their neighbor as they loved themselves.

By the time the Lord Jesus arrived in the world, none of these possessions could be found among the Pharisees. With Jesus’ coming death and resurrection, which would bring about the sending of the Holy Spirit, with the apostles going out with the Gospel of Jesus to the four corners of the world, the Pharisees would be out of a job. They were about to be fired.

Jesus told the parable to wake them up. He showed how they could use their station, as these holy men among the Jews, to win some friends before they lost their job as the holy men among the Jews. In the parable, the manager chopped the bills of those in debt to the rich man. By reducing their bills, the manager was winning favor for himself. When he would be out of a job, he would be able to go to the doors of these folks and expect them to remember his mercy and give him a helping hand.

We can guess what came of the Pharisees, after the Christian Church was established, that the Pharisees were not given the time of day. As Jesus had predicted in the parable, they were left muttering, "I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg."

The Lord concludes the parable with this seemingly odd statement: "I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they many receive you into the eternal dwellings." That is, use material things in such a way that people will love you. Your money and possessions are going to remain in this world—in this way, they constitute unrighteous wealth—so, use them in this world for the good of your eternal life.

At the end, we are told that the Pharisees ridiculed Jesus. They didn’t like Jesus’ parable because they were lovers of money. How are you, O prosperous, modern American, different from the Pharisees? Is it not the American way to be a lover of money?

You older folks recall the last part this way: "You cannot serve God and mammon." The word, from which we get mammon or money—nowadays, we like to translate it stuff—the word that the Lord used meant this: "That in which one puts his trust."

Ah, now we are getting to the heart of the matter! Ask yourself, "In what do I put my trust?" In other words, where, really, is your heart? What master is it that you are serving?

The Lord says that you can’t serve two masters; you will love one and hate the other. So, what mammon in your life competes with the Lord for the sole position of master?

Looking at extreme situations helps us see our own. I knew a husband and wife with marital problems. She wanted to move away; he wanted to remain where they lived, in his home town. She reminded him that he had promised that, if she were not happy after so many years in that place, they would move. But, when the time came to keep his promise, he loved his home town more than he loved his wife. He stayed. She left. They divorced.

The co-worker of a member of one of my churches in Iowa successfully skimmed money off the books, for several months. He made thousands for himself. Of course, he was caught. Of course, he was fired. Of course, he had to return the money. And, of course, he lost a good friend. Whom did the man love and whom did he hate?

Did you hear about the woman who, a couple of weeks ago, claimed to have had acid thrown into her face by a stranger, as she left a store and, when she got onto the sidewalk, for no apparent reason, the stranger did this to her? But, elements of her story didn’t add up. Finally, a few days ago, she admitted that she did it to herself. Why she did it doesn’t matter. What needs to be obvious to us is that she was serving her own desires, and not that of her neighbor. She stands to be charged with lying to the police and obstructing justice.

Whether you do something to yourself and lie to the police and media, or break a promise to your wife, or steal from your company, aren’t these really only small things in which to be faithful, when compared with eternal life in Jesus Christ, who tells you the truth, "One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much."

He goes on to ask, "If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" We already determined what unrighteous wealth is. It’s all of the stuff—the mammon and money—of this life. Now, what are the true riches?

These are the gifts of Jesus Christ. These are the forgiveness of your sins, and eternal life in the resurrection of the dead, and salvation from death, devil, and damnation. These are the riches—the only riches—which have staying power, which will last past this earthly life.

So, you need to ask yourself, you who claim to be Christians: Are you faithful in the stuff of this life? Can you be trusted with a little money? Do you keep your promises? Would you so love the spotlight that you would make up a story to gain attention?

Do you cheat on your taxes, so that you have that much more in your pocket? Do you cheat on your wife, on your husband, on your boyfriend or girlfriend? Do you cheat on your schoolwork? Do you cheat on your time card at work? Do you steal from your work, taking a few more minutes here and there on your breaks and at lunchtime; taking home pens, or post-its, or toilet paper, or whatever it is that is in abundance at your workplace that, as you say to justify your actions, "Everybody does it"?

I’ve given you a variety of examples so that you might see yourself. My heart is bleeding for the behavior of this congregation. Our weekly church attendance continues to plummet. Is it not fair of a pastor to think that, if the members of his congregation cannot even be faithful to the Lord with the couple of hours that it takes for Sunday worship—that so few able adults dig into the Lord’s Word in Bible class, and so few parents make the effort to get their kids to Sunday School—that they don’t give a hoot about anything else the Lord commands them—that their love for the Lord has gone cold—that they love the money and stuff of their lives more than they love Christ—that they are not faithful to their Lord in how they make use of their worldly gifts, so why should we think they have hearts which sincerely repent of their selfish use of those gifts?

The Lord Jesus is looking for integrity, honesty, faithfulness. He can read your heart. He knows if you are cheating on Him, what you really love in life, whether you truly repent of your sins and throw yourself upon His mercy. He knows if you are faithful in very little—the mammon of your lives—and that translates to whether you will be faithful in much—His eternal gifts forgiveness, life, and salvation.

As we heard last week: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Admit who you are: the chief of sinners. Throw yourself upon Christ’s mercy, for He died for you. He baptized you into His mercy. He feeds you upon His mercy-filled body and blood. He alone has power to change your heart from selfishness to faithfulness, so that you can be trusted with His material blessings to you, as you use them to show your family and friends and co-workers that you belong to His eternal dwelling. And, you do.

Christ is faithful, when you are not. He calls you to faithfulness, so that you never lose His eternal gifts—the reason He died for you. Amen.