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KEY TOPICS
Lazarus the Poor Man, Rich Man, God, Jesus, Abraham’s Bosom, Haughty Spirit, Heaven and Earth, Mercy and Judgement, Pursue Righteousness, People of God, Parables of Jesus, read, Remember to be Content, Angels and Prophets, works, world, Dressed in Purple, industrious, place

Come like to wind and cleanse, come like the fire and burn, convert and consecrate our hearts for our great good and for your greater glory. Amen.
 
Please be seated. Well, again, welcome to everyone. Last week, we had a Gospel reading that ended with, and I quote, "You cannot serve God and mammon." You remember that? Remember that, Jack? The perplexing parable? Yeah,  I noodled over it myself somehow, after that.
 
Well, what happened there was that that ended. And, you know, of course, we got to the basics of the parable, which was that the shrewd servant was shrewd and industrious, and looking out for his well being. Once well, he cheated his master while he was with him. And then when his master said, You're gonna go, he started plotting and planning on how we could set things up for him, once he gets kicked out. So it could be okay. So that he could have, you know, a place to live and to do and that sort of thing. And he was praised for that. But what about those of us who are interested in what happens when we get when we depart this world? Are we concerned with the world to come with eternity? Do we live our lives in such a way that we store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, as Jesus suggests that we do. So the Pharisees didn't like it, but it goes on. There's some other the lines following that, where they say that they derived Jesus for that sermon. And they ridiculed him and mocked him. Why? Because in their worldview, if you were rich, and fancy, and special, and important, you were favored by God. If you were poor and miserable, too bad for you. Something's going on there. Something's wrong with you. So this whole notion that I'm supposed to serve God and not wealth, What do you mean I'm not supposed to serve riches I'm not supposed to go after riches. I'm not supposed to make that my main thing. I'm not supposed to address a fancy and all that sort of stuff. But that that was the whole point. And it's easy to fall into that trap isn't it? Right, what I wear, how I look kind of car I drive all that sort of stuff. But no, that's not the point.
 
So Jesus tells them another parable to try to make more clear what he's what he's saying. What it is that we should be concerned with here in this life and in this world and it's not the things that we think they are and you know, if you look at this morning's first read of reading to Timothy you know, he he spells it out really really well here so I just want to read some of it. So that you cannot serve God and mammon. So there is great gain and godliness combined with contentment, oh contentment, what is that? For we brought nothing in the world we can take nothing out of it.
 
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. Okay. motorhomes. motorhomes. There. They're not necessary, apparently. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmless desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And in their eagerness to be rich, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. They went after mammon, they said, I want to be rich, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to do that. And if I have to violate God's will, then I shall do that in the process. Because this is where I'm staking my happiness and my enjoyment.
 
But he says, As for you, man of God, so those who want to be godly, who are interested in that In a shuttle that pursue righteousness, the fellow from last week's sermon pursued what he pursued to clever means in order to secure his happiness after he gets fired. He was busy being, plotting and planning and making this bringing this to fruition. And he was said, hey, that's, that's really good work that you've done there. I was very industrious of you and clever of you. Well, here, Paul saying, Pursue righteousness, seek that. Upon seeking righteousness. I ask do I get up in the morning and when I pray and say, What do I do I get up in the morning, say, Okay, today I'm going to seek righteousness, and godliness, and love, and gentleness. Those are my goals today. Generally, I wake up well, now that I'm retired, not as much, but when I used to be worrying, I wake up, I had all kinds of plotting and planning going on. That didn't really include some of these things. Fight the good fight of the faith. Believe that's not always easy to do is it because the world it wants us to pursue Mammon. So we have to fight it, we have to fight the good fight. We have to take hold of the eternal life, to which we've been called by God, the eternal life. That's what's important. That's what I'm supposed to be thinking about. As for those who in his present age are rich, commend them not to be haughty. Again, it's not the money. That's the problem. It's the love of money, , Jesus in one place tells the one guy to sell all the stuff and give it to the poor, because he had a particular that guy needed to learn a lesson. Here he says, Don't be haughty. In the uncertainty of your riches, like we're gonna hear about the guy who dresses in purple. He was a little haughty commanded not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on an on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Isn't that great? He provides us everything we need for our enjoyment. If we turn to God, if we pursue God and godliness, that's what columns I'd like I said many times, you know, I'll pursue some of these worldly things like a motorhome. And because I want enjoyment, and I do get enjoyment out of them. But I also get a lot of problems and pain. I do this thing up here. I pierced myself with many pains. Because these things are, you know, have problems come with them. And as I said about boats, which I heard some guys--they went, that was the greatest thing ever. Since the two best days of boat ownership is the day you buy it and the day you sell it. That's what we're getting at here.
 
But not with God. When you find God and you rest in God, you find enjoyment that is eternal. Okay, they are what they're gonna do some other things here. There do you do good, to be rich in good works. Not just rich and mammon, but rich and good works. That's the important thing. Generous, ready to share all the things that of course, the fellow in the parable we're talking about here that Jesus told did not do. says if you're if you are rich and good works, and you're generous, and you're ready to share, you are thus storing up for yourself the treasures of a good foundation for the future in heaven. So that they may take hold of the life that really is life stored up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Jesus said, not the things on earth that rust and decay and go away. So be about good works. BJ generous. These are the things He tells us to do. Again, do I wake up in the morning and take a moment to think to myself, I want to remember to be generous today. I want to remember to do good works today. Because I've been called to do that by Jesus Himself. God Himself has set aside good work for me to do. Do I get up and I think about that. I need to because that's that's the whole point. Okay. So we go back to the guy the week or so now we go ahead to the guy in purple is rich guy. He did all kinds of things, right? He ate sumptuously every day, it says, never took a day off for being sumptuous.
 
Okay, so was it the wealth that condemned him? No.
 
It was what he didn't do as well. If you forgot, he never even considered why God gave him that wealth. I'm sure he thought I did. Look at me. So the condition of his heart was what his problem was. He didn't believe Psalm 146, which we have right here. Where it says, God who made heaven, an earth, the season, all that is in them, who keeps his promise forever, who gives justice to those who are oppressed and food to those who hunger, the Lord sets the prisoners free, the Lord opened the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, ie Lazarus out of the gate. He did he, I don't know if he read that he may have. But if he did, he read it and he didn't do it.
 
So Abraham says in the story here, he says, John, remember that doing your your, during your lifetime, you receive your good things and Lazar, some like manna is evil things. So he did receive some good things. But again, he did not use them according to God's will. He did not use his talents to Increase God's mercy in the world. As Jesus instructs us in another in another in another parallel. He dressed in purples to show other how important and special he was, he dressed in purple and did all these fancy things to feed his worldly ego. He used fine linen for the same purpose he feasted sumptuously every day, to not only impress other people, but to impress himself with how awesome he was. I'm God. Why Lazarus, of course, hoping he could get a crumb of bread. That was his day. And you notice how there's this faith, isn't it that I'm going to come here and maybe I'll get across to bread live. And you notice how you don't hear him complaining or whining? was a pretty amazing guy. And he's there. Why is he said because he's got sores. He's got some kind of disease. He had sores. He can't do anything. He's really probably had to carry in there. He just lays there it says he so we couldn't keep the dogs from licking his wounds and wounds. And you think about the dogs, right? I wanted these dogs probably belong to this rich purple guy, right? The Purple Guy as he's known by the rich purple guy, he's probably his dogs. I'm sure he fed his dogs pretty pretty well. You know, we think about that I you know, we take care of our dogs. And sometimes I think, you know, by taking care of my dog and more than I'm taking care of the people in the world who are suffering our border and have real problems. You want you to the dogs come to rich, maybe they were nicer and then the rich guy they were they were coming to lick his wounds to try to alleviate some of the pain I don't know either that or it was just further torture for it. And we know that the rich man knew that he was there wasn't like he didn't know he was there. He even knew his name isn't hurting his call tell Lazarus to come dip his finger and cool my tongue.
 
So he knew he was there. He just didn't do anything to help him he may not like those sores Lazarus is in a bad way. We can't refer either Can we now who who God loves Richard the poor I can't wait because right here pretty obvious to God loves Lazarus so let's talk about Lazarus he's poor he's he's poor in spirit as Jesus says is a good thing to have.
 
I'm actually gonna go back to the rich guy for a minute. Because this is another thing we learned from Jesus. No, it's not enough just not to be mean to people. Were called to help them. Remember when Jesus this is really powerful message he gives to us at one point when he talks about how Have you guys over here? You didn't, I was hungry, and you didn't feed me? And they say, well, when did we what? What are you talking about here? Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of these my brothers you did not do for me. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. And that's what's happening here to the rich guy. He's going away into eternal punishment, because he'd stepped feet, Lazarus. So we're taught very specifically, very important things we're supposed to do. And that's to use the talents were given by God in the service of others. In the name of God.
 
So, there he is, and then guess what happens? They both die. I'm sure the man in purple was surprised. And let's imagine for a moment his funeral dignity dignitaries, probably came, because he's carrying, you know, some probably a, you know, a bit, maybe a fan. To carry them there. It was great pomp and circumstance around the burial of this fellow, I'm sure.
 
But what happened to Lazarus? Well, a band of angels came to get him. So the rich man has this temporary last moment of look how awesome I am. He's buried. Go straight to hell. You know, we say that sometimes at persons should go straight down. Well, that's apparently what happened. He went straight down.
 
And Lazarus went straight into the bosom of Abraham, and haven't lifted up and carry there by a band of angels, angels who look after us in this life, and who will come to meet us and take us with Him in Heaven. I remember when my father died. I think this is what was going on. He's laying in the bed there and everybody was laying around, are standing around him. And he was looking at us this is like, just before he died, and he looked up, and he goes, and he says, this person's name and that person's name and that person's name and that person's name. And then he goes, who's that? And then later, right, I can't remember who it was. One of us walked by the hall and they looked through and he was busy talking to whoever that was. So the angels come to get us. So death, it's not necessarily that scary thing is to die. The angels are there to take care of you, to lift you up and bring you to Heaven. rich man's and how suffering. He looks up, he sees Abraham. Remember, Luke's Jesus says this another time earlier and Luke He says, you know, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out. Now, this is a tremendous addition to his torment, isn't it, that not only is he in this terrible place, but he looks up and he sees Lazarus is in heaven. And he realizes, wait, there's this other place where he's been comforted by Abraham goes on. He says, people will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first and first who will be last. And this of course, is a good example. I think of what he's saying there.
 
So he's surprised so is there no relief in hell? No. i Let's think about it. This is no relief. Now. You read through the story, this rich man is in a bad way. And there's no every time he asked for something, no, no great chasm. God ordained that this was the way it was going to be. You had your time. Now, this is the situation you're in. So that when you think about that, that's very serious. But then we think about what did God do to save us from that predicament? That's pretty intense what he did too Isn't He sent His only Son into the world, to teach us about his mercy, and, and his salvation and to suffer and die on the cross, to pay for our sins, so that we would not have to go to this terrible place. So God did a tremendous thing. And if we think about that, we can understand why now. This is a bad place that we have consigned ourselves to, by our disobedience. So the rich man's punishment includes not only his loss of his stuff, but actual pain. It's made worse like I said, he sees Lazarus, than the dialogue he has with Abraham represents the thoughts ofChrist. Son, remember, Christ says to him, Abraham says to him, just think about that son, remember? Wow. That's probably the last thing you want to hear when you're in his situation.
 
Remember your Creator. Remember your Redeemer. Remember the many warnings I gave to you that you did not regard.
 
Remember the many offers I made to you have eternal joy in life that you ignored or rejected. Remember the gifts I gave you. And that you were not grateful for them? Should I use them as a blessing for others?
 
Remember your unkindness and the little you did for others. Remember how you did not improve upon the talents that I gave you. So it's too late for him to ask for help.
 
Now all he can do is remember that this is the great mercy and grace of God for those who accept his offer. When we go into heaven, our sins are forgiven and washed away. And they are remembered no more. That is the great, amazing gift. Especially when you compare it to what the rich man is left to do for eternity. We are forgiven through His mercy and grace. We will not remember any of that. It's gone. But for him, it is too late now to ask for help. The day of help has passed, the day of mercy has gone. If he had asked for help in his life, he would have received it. He begs Lazarus, then go to my brother. Tell them hey, look, They have Moses and the prophets dumb to read that. No, no, they won't. That's there to read blah, blah, Moses prophets. They need something special to come. Right? We get used to these things. And you just tell us look, if they did not listen to Moses and the prophets and either where they live, be convinced even if someone does arise from the dead and go to them, their hearts are hardened. That's not gonna it won't do anything. They have the written word. That is the ordinary means and a miraculous and merciful means by which God has given us to be convicted and converted of our sins and to accept His mercy. That's how it works. That's it. But they gotta have something special for them. No, that's it right there. Foolish people. We like to think that any any kind of method of conviction or you know, God is better than the one God came up with? What does he know? So they find reasons to reject God. Probably because they just don't want to believe that it could be because of the Pharisees and unlike what he teaches, but they don't know that they're rejecting the joy, of eternal life with God and the joy that is found every day on this earth with God.
 
Where's it at? Here it is. God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Trust God. And those of us in this is this I think, father, Jack Winchester last week in this country so rich and everything. We all the poor has always been with us. Jesus said, Therefore we always have work to do to succor and help those in need.
 
The dead if they came back, they could say no more than what is in Scripture. And they could say it with no more authority. Then the scripture says that Jesus verifies this very point. Both when he raises Lazarus always wondered, did he did he have? Did he come up with the word Lazarus here? He's telling the story, because he knew I'm gonna raise Lazarus from the dead here little while? I think so. You know, a lot of people weren't convinced by that. Who else was raised from the dead? To show the power of God, Jesus himself. You tell that to people. They won't be convinced even if someone is raised from the dead. Therefore, what do we do? We ask for God's mercy. We pray for His mercy for us and for others, that we would all come to see and hear and learn and see that the word is true and taste of it and taste how beautiful it is. But we must read it and we must ingest it in order for it to it for us to experience its beauty, the beauty of holiness that is there for us.
 
Let us pray. Father, God, we thank you so much for the gift of your word, and for the teachings that Jesus came to bring us so that we would know the wonders of Your mercy and forgiveness and the wonders of your salvation. Help us Father God, to obey you and to follow Jesus in pathways of righteousness so that we go about doing good for others in your name. Help us Father God, to be about your business. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Please stand now and turning to page seven in your booklet let us confess our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. We believe in one God, the Father and the Almighty.

Luke 16:1-13
16 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management 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 removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ 5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures[a] of oil.’ 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?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures[b] of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world[c] are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth,[d] so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
10 “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. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 13 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.”

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KEY TOPICS
Stewards of Kingdom , Parables of Jesus, wealth, The Dishonest Steward, master, Wisdom of the World, Wisdom of God, Jesus Teachings. Slashes the Debts, Story and Parables, People in Scripture, throw, Commended by the Master, Love of Money, Cannot Serve God and Wealth, kingdom, Acted Shrewdly, homeless guy

Lord we pray send your spirit now, to open the Word to our understanding,  illuminate the scriptures and guide us as we consider this holy gospel this morning, and your holy name. Amen. Please be seated
 
Well, that Gospel reading is perfectly clear, right? I mean, easy to die see what Jesus is talking about.
 
I was thinking, you know, a father Randy and I kind of play Bible scripture roulette up here, because each week the lectionary comes around, and we're not sure who's going to get what passage Exactly. Although the parables of Jesus and all the Gospels, the one from this morning's reading is perhaps the most perplexing. What's commonly known as the parable of the dishonest steward or the unjust steward. The dishonest steward is conniving. He embezzles the Masters funds, he alters the books, and he skims off the top. And when he is called into account, he calls those who are in debt to the master and slashes the bills. How much do you owe 100 jugs of olive oil? Quick. Write down quickly, make it 50. How about you? Well, I 100 containers a week, okay, make it at any slashes that masters property, produce, just like that. Now, one would expect that for these actions, he would be punished. One would expect him to when he's called do an account to be thrown into jail or, you know, having to make restitution. But as the parable unwinds, as a parable unfolds, what happens next? He is commanded. What? The unjust not the end just steward is commanded. The master commends the dishonest manager, because he has acted shrewdly.
 
What is going on here?
 
Every time I read this parable, and I read through the Gospel of Luke, or we come to the lectionary, that's the question I asked what is going on here? In this story, it's hard to break into the density of what Jesus is trying to teach, at least for me, you can all give me your insights, following the service. Instead of being punished, the master commends the dishonest manager, what is going on? Instead of being thrown into jail, he gets a commendation for fleecing his masters goods. And at first glance, it may seem like that is what the parables teaching. So how are we to make sense then, of this perplexing story, this perplexing parable that Jesus is telling? Because parables are just that they are stories, which are dense, and they are layered with God's truth. And Jesus taught in parables. Why? Because stories are easy to remember. And after this morning, you're always going to remember this story of the unjust steward, the dishonest steward. So Jesus taught in parables so that they can be remembered and that they would convey the deep truths of God in the kingdom.
 
So let's dig in just a little bit into this parable, then this morning, how do we make sense of this perplexing parable? Well, to begin with, let's look for the bottom line. What is the goal? What is the end? What is Jesus trying to teach in this parable? What is the point that he is reaching for in telling this story? Secondly, after we look for the bottom line, let us look back more carefully and consider what exactly is this dishonest steward this dishonest manager? What exactly is he being commended for? And finally, let's consider what the Spirit will may be saying to us what God is saying to us today as we enter into the story, so we're gonna look for the bottom line. We're gonna look back in See what exactly is being committed for. And we're gonna listen. When listen for the voice of the Lord, as we always listen, when we gather, we hear his words, we're gonna listen, what is God's saying to us? So Jesus is telling this parable to make a point. That's why he told the parables you wanted to make that make a point and teach a truth about God's kingdom. Parables are designed to convey spiritual truth.
 
So what is the main point of this story? What is the bottom line? Well, if you look to the bottom line, in the Scriptures this morning, the final line, the bottom line that Jesus is trying to teach, you cannot serve God. And well. This is the point. This is the truth. This is what this parable is designed to convey this where Jesus is going with the story. The tell us as it were, the end purpose. You cannot serve God. And well, no one can serve two masters. You see, Jesus is clearly teaching those who are listening teaching us You cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve God and the kingdom and or and work the world and wealthy aspirations. The dishonest steward has a divided heart.  Perhaps he started out with good intention. Perhaps he started out faithfully, serving only the master. But somewhere along the way, he was tempted by the promises of wealth, tempted by the promises of the world. Do we ever experienced that temptation? Anyone? We live in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, the history of the planet? Sometimes I think we don't even realize because we're so immersed in it, just how incredible wealthy we are. Compared to the history of mankind, I mean, just to you know, have like food and running water is like a miracle in some cases.
 
Perhaps the steward started out faithfully serving the master, but he was tempted by the promises of wealth. What are those promises? What is it that wealth promises? When you look at, you know, to look at the uber rich, you know, what, what is that temptation? What is being offered there? Well, power. Wealth is, is power. Once someone has enough wealth, if they've got everything that they need, then it becomes a quest for power, and more wealth, and more. It's insatiable, isn't it? Because the things about the temptations of the world is, they are insatiable aren't they.  Insatiable it means they cannot be satisfied. You keep trying to get more and more. It only creates more of a hunger.
 
 So the dishonest steward is tempted by these promises of the world, the promises of wealth, power, pleasures, and possessions, three Ps I would call. Somewhere along the way, he's tempted, He crosses over, the desire of his heart is changed. At first he is desiring to serve the master. He is content with his wages. But when he gets pulled aside by these, the lure and the promise of wealth, then he begins to compromise, the desire of his heart change, his heart is divided now, it is not fixed, faithfully serving as a servant of his master. No, now he is serving his own desires his own ends. And that leads him to compromise and to lie to cheat and to steal. You know, first he's skimming off the top, and then once the master finds out the scheming off the top, then he goes out there and slashes the bills to try to gain favor. With those who actually legitimately owe a bill a debt to the master, he desired to be faithful and content gives way to desire to get more, more for himself to have more and I think you that change that division of the heart, then there's no contentment. When our hearts are divided, we lose contentment. We're no longer we're discontent, we're searching and trying to find something, fill the emptiness within. He exchanged the love of God, the master, of course, was representing God here in the story. He exchanged the love of God, for the love of money.
 
Now, oftentimes, you may have heard it said, what I think is kind of popular theology in our culture around us. Have you heard this said, Money is the root of all evil, you're gonna put that proverb in the land. Money is the root of all evil. But that's not actually biblical. That's not actually what the scripture says. It's a little edit that takes place, it changes it dramatically. What the Scripture actually says is the love of money. I see you nodding your heads because you know, the love of money, is the root of all evil. This desire of the heart, you see, is the desire of our hearts for God, and to serve Him and to acknowledge him, or is the desire to have wealth and power and possessions and pleasures. First Timothy, chapter six, the love of money, is the root of all evil. Jesus is teaching in this parable, he's teaching us to guard our hearts. That what you love, is that whom you serve that whom you love. Is that which you serve? What are the desires of your hearts this morning? Which master Are you serving? In your life ? It's easy for with all the wealth and power and prestige and the lures around us, it's easy for our hearts to slip and become divided. And to begin to try to crave more, instead of putting our trust in God and giving, being thankful for all of His provision and being content. Godliness  brings great contentment which are the desires of your heart this morning?
 
Well, to be clear, the dishonest steward is not being commended for being dishonest. Amen. Maybe I should have started with that to begin with. Let's just clear that up. You guys probably already have seen this seen through this. But he's not being commended, because he was, you know, stealing from the master for being dishonest. Now why is he being committed? What's he been committed for? Anybody want to help me out? Being shrewd. Thank you, Anna. The dishonest steward is being commended for acting shrewdly, for acting with wisdom. Using his masters wealth, in a wise manner in a worldly wise manner, not a kingdom manner, but in a worldly manner. He's using worldly wisdom to accomplish his goal, not to get thrown out on the street. James says there, there is wisdom from above, and there's wisdom from below. And wisdom from the below is worldly, it essential, it is demonic. But the wisdom from above is first peaceable and gentle, full of righteousness without partiality without hypocrisy, and it brings peace. It brings contentment to those who live in the designers steward that is being committed for being shrewd in the ways of the world, making a way for himself when he's in a terrible predicament. Now, we would still think that, perhaps that well, how's he going to get out of this because the master would clearly want to throw him in jail for what he had done. But we must remember that there's certain context in which the story is being taught this parable in the villages of Palestine, to those who lived and and made their life there.
 
In his book poet and Present scholar and linguists Kenneth Bailey, explains that All villagers in Palestine, all the Palestinian villagers understand this parable perfectly. You see, he went and lived there among them and he studied the language. And what he found is that out in rural Palestine in these little villages, things haven't changed much in 2000 years. And when they read this story, and they hear this parable, they all just nod their heads. Yes, that's right. That's right. He he he acted shrewdly he got out of the predicament when the dishonest steward slashes the bills of the debtors, those who owe the debt and all the other villagers around them, would naturally assume that it was not the steward, not the manager who was cutting their bill. But the master. And the master would be held up in great honor for his his generosity, what can he do, then he can go back and then throw the steward in jail, because everyone would know that he wasn't the Generous One would have forgiven all these debts. So this was a shrewd maneuver, using worldly wisdom. And everyone in the village would be rejoicing in the great generosity of the master who had slashed the bills, and they probably throw a big party for him and in honor of his name, make a big celebration to honor him. You see, they are all the villagers, all the those who had their death counseled with no with would assume and to their way of thinking, they would know that it was the master who had done this. You see, the steward is only the servant of the master.
 
The steward, the manager is only the representative of the master. The master represents his intentions, through his steward, through his managers, and the people of the village, know the character of the master. Through the actions of the steward, through the lens of his management, they come to know and understand this is who the master is, this is what he's like He in this case, they would think he's generous, and kind and forgiving, giving this this break on all the all the bills, and like manna, you see we are stewards also are. We are stewards of God. We are stewards of God's creation, everything belongs to him, we're stewards of all His provision, all his abundance, the ways in which we act. Also, we reflect to those who are around us in the village. The ways in which we use the provision and the wealth and the money that he's given to us, reflect the character of God to those who are around us. As a result, the people in the village look to how we are acting, and they make assumptions. They make understandings about who God is. How are we using the wealth God has entrusted to us? Remember, it demonstrates his character to those around us? We are his stewards. parable goes on the master commended the dishonest steward, because he adapted shrewdly children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light. And people in the world are more actively engaged. They're wiser in the world using this wealth in a worldly way, then the people of God using the resources that he's giving us to advance the kingdom, Jesus is saying, Make Friends of the dishonest wealth now that's a pickle of a scripture to get get around, isn't it? He was faithful and little is faithful in much. In other words, Jesus is saying, Be Wise With the worldly wealth that God has given to you Use it wisely for the Kingdom. As a demonstration of the love and the character of God, be wise, with what is entrusted to you, live honestly, in contrast to the manager in the story, be content. And give joyfully because as we give joyfully we reflect the the great love and joy and the abundance that God provides in our lives, if we truly know of the abundance of God's provision that we see, and we kind of hold in, in wealth or in money, and we know that that's coming from God, and we open our hands to give joyfully, we are receiving and giving freely. And in that, in that joy, then the world around us receives the testimony of God's love of His provision, and, and what it means to be faithful.
 
 I was thinking about one time. And I know some of you have shared stories like this as well. When we're out into in the world, and, and there are those around us that are watching us, they were they know you're a Christian, because the Holy Spirit is within you to begin with. And you just can't hide it. You can run but you cannot hide. Once the holy spirit is within you, those around you, wherever you are on the world, sooner or later, they're going to realize this person is a follower of Jesus. And then they're going to be watching to see as, as you as a steward of God's provision, his creation, how you are representing that. So but for father, Randy and I am, we have a particular significant way of being seen when we're out and, and known when we're out in the world is called a collar. See these things right here. So when you put on when I put on my clergy shirt, and I'm wearing my collar, and I go to Home Depot, everyone who looks at me knows immediately, this guy is a priest. Watching, what's he doing? What's his attitude? Is he getting mad at the counter girl or not? So it kind of creates an interesting sort of target when we're out and about, and I can relate this on Randy. So one day I was at Home Depot, I was wearing my collar, and I walked out. And so there was a homeless man there. And I really am very reluctant, I would not encourage you to give money to the homeless, we all know this. Because it's really not helping them. It's just probably perpetuating their addictions and the drugs that are out there on the street. But we want to have compassion, we want to represent the master with the resources that he's given to us. So the homeless man came up to me and I was expecting to say, Hey, can you give me you know, $5? Can you give me some money? But instead he said, Can you buy me something to eat? I'm hungry. So I said, yeah. Yeah, let's go over to a Pollo Loco.  and you know, buy, I'll buy lunch, whatever you want.
 
So I go into Pollo Loco, and I'm still wearing my collar, right? So as soon as I walk into Pollo Loco everyone looks, There is a priest in here, What's he doing you just be everybody's like, Oh, because you know, you'll actually see people with collars on very often. Like, even when I'm out. I don't see other priests out there very often. So it's kind of unusual.  So the homeless guy comes in with me. So now people were looking at him. And they're looking at me. And I said, What do you want to have to eat? He said, I'd like one of those big chicken burritos. I said, Yeah, let's I'm gonna buy him lunch. I'm gonna give big give him a big chicken burrito. So you got the burrito and got a big coke. And we sat down that's out there and talk to him for a few minutes. And as I was doing that, the whole the whole attitude. I mean, the first few we're looking at the homeless guy. What's he doing here? The whole spirit of the place changed. The people behind the counter. Oh, hang on. Let me help you. Did you need some some salsa? Yeah.
 
And the people in the restaurant were like, Oh, look, look what's happening. Hear, someone is buying someone giving some something to eat and compassion, me as the humble father or Jack broken servant of God that I am, I am representing the master. You represent the master we represent the master with worldly wealth, wealth with them the monetary means that he is given to us. And I would like to think that everyone there at that restaurant, went home thinking. God is a compassionate God who loves even the lowly and the outcast.
 
The Parable of the dishonest steward, it is perplexing at the title of this sermon, the perplexing parable. And there's probably much more here than I've touched on this morning. But the bottom line of this parable is, is this You cannot serve God and wealth as God's people we cannot live with a divided heart. Along the way in the story, Jesus teaches us to be wise, to be honest stewards of money, of wealth and possessions of all that God has entrusted to us. And to remember that we are revealing his character to those around us as we do. When we are faithful in these mundane things of the world. He will also entrust us with the true riches, the true riches of the spiritual life in the kingdom of God. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Watch on Facebook, sermon begins at 15:20.

KEY TOPICS
Life in Jesus; Give up Possessions; Christian Benefits, god, Surrender to the Lord; Count the Cost, Disciple of Christ, Possessiveness verses Trust; Procedure in Faith; Conflict with the World, Passages of Obedience, Cost of Discipleship, Morning Liturgy, Witnesses for God, shocks, Contrast in Scriptures; Oriented toward Benefits; Scriptures of Salvation

Lord, we pray this morning that our hearts could be open to your Word. Lord, you speak to us in so many ways through directly through your, your scriptures, to your presence in the worship. In this Holy Sacrament, in our time together, we pray God that your words or words of life would come into each one of our hearts this morning, and to us as the community of ascension, Anglican, and your words would bring life and create life within us. Your holy name we pray. Amen.
 
Please be seated. Good morning, good morning, once again to everybody. Good to see you. Good morning to all those who are joining us live stream on Facebook, we're delighted to have you with us as well as our extended church family here on this first Sunday in September, August is flown by. And now we're coming into the new season.
 
I was kind of taken as I was looking through the scriptures this week and reading through really all of the scriptures together. And what I was seeing there was a really clear contrast that was being made. We see a clear contrast between those who will follow God's ways. And those who will not those who are followers of Jesus, His disciples, and those who choose to follow the ways of the world, those who will not follow Jesus who reject Him. In this choice, there are certain costs that are evident. Certain costs involved here.
 
There are costs involved in following God. We Don't think about that often. Mostly, we think about the benefits of following God. There are costs involved and following God, there are costs to being a disciple of Jesus, as well as the great benefits that we receive through following him. Likewise, there are  costs to rejecting God, there are costs for not following Him, consequences to refusing his offer of salvation. In fact, there is an ultimate price to pay for rejecting and not following God.
 
So in the scriptures, we see this contrast between those who follow God, and those who will not those who will follow Jesus, and those who reject Him. And there's a very clear sense of the costs that are involved in it come to light. For each each group. There's cost to following, there's cost to not following. Now, I don't know about you, but I mostly oriented toward the great benefits of following Jesus, amen. And that's mostly what I'm preaching up here on Sunday morning is give your heart to Jesus, follow him, and and the blessings of God will begin to flow in your life, you will be blessed with the presence of God in your life, you will be blessed with the Holy Spirit in your life, you will be blessed with eternal life. And so I am mostly oriented in that way. I'm a follower of Jesus, and I get the benefits. I don't know if that's a cultural thing for us or not. As Americans, you know, we're like, Okay, what's the benefit for this activity I'm going to do. But it's also the promise is part of the promise of the gospel. But as we follow Jesus, we have, he promises these great benefits, the benefits of His grace in our life. And so I'm mostly oriented that way. So when I read the scriptures this morning, it's a little startling, actually, to hear the words that Jesus is saying and the contrast that God is putting in these passages.
 
So I'm oriented that way toward the benefits of following Jesus. And I think also were his original disciples were oriented that way, and the crowds that were following him, they were coming to seek, what benefits that they could have, by being around this amazing person that appeared and the power of God. But in the Gospel, Jesus makes clear that there is a cost that we must count the cost. And I think in in kind of a way, he's kind of shocking. I don't know anybody shocked by the some of the things in the Gospel today. You know, we'll get there in a minute. But I think he's trying to shock them into realizing that there is a cost. And that cost, ultimately, to follow him, is laying down a decision that must be made of who will be Lord, in your life. So he makes it clear he shocks them and maybe shocks us perhaps. And I was thinking, you know, we we just know the love of Jesus. And he's so kind. And I'm often up here talking about his loving kindness. And so when he comes up with something like this, it can be shocking. But it's the truth, that Jesus is not all warm and fuzzy, is what I'm trying to say. Amen. Jesus is not all warm and fuzzy, He is the righteous King of Glory, who comes to rule and reign in power. And he speaks truth into our lives, which is sometimes rather uncomfortable, or really shocks us into to a deeper level of understanding who he is and who we are, as as people.
 
Jesus goes on in this Gospel passage with two parables that it that say to us that we must realize that to follow Him, we must first count the cost. This passage in the Gospel is commonly known as the cost of discipleship. The cost of discipleship is made famous by Dietrich Bonhoeffer a follower of Jesus, a Christian in Nazi Germany who stood against the evil of Hitler's regime, and ultimately was executed. For his faith, the cost of discipleship in the book by the same title.
 
The Gospel passage begins then saying, Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus, no doubt they were there, for the potential benefits. Large crowds gathered around him. They wanted to see a miracle. They wanted to see something incredible. Perhaps they wanted something personal from for themselves. They wanted a miracle of healing or a miracle of restoration. They were there for the benefits. Maybe they wanted free fish and free bread that they heard that he had a doled out by the 1000s. And especially at that time, the people of Israel, they wanted the benefit of having the Romans kicked out, because they were under subjection to the Roman Empire. And they were looking to Jesus as this Messiah King, this worldly King, who was going to give them the great benefit of kicking out the Romans.
 
But Jesus gives them a wake up call. If you want to be my disciple, he says, If you want to follow me, you must first count the cost. Like the man building the Tower, if those of you built homes, or churches or whatever in your life, you know, first you sit down and you make a plan. And you think what is required to see this through to the end, or the king going out toward what is required for me to prevail in this conflict, and not be overwhelmed by the forces of the enemy. The cost of discipleship, Jesus says if you want to be my disciple, count the cost. Whoever does not hate father, mother, wife, sisters, brothers, family, and even your own life. You cannot be my disciple. That's pretty radical, isn't it? I mean, it's like, wow, Jesus, what happened to you this morning? Did you not have your coffee before you got out here and started preaching?
 
Whoever does not hate father, mother even life itself. You cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the crosscannot be my disciple. On those days, that was clearly evident what that meant, because they'd all seen those prisoners who were being executed carrying their crosses out to be crucified, sacrificing or losing, giving their life. Whoever , the famil does not hate family and life; who doesn't carry the crosswhoe; whoever does not give up all possessions. No one can become my disciple, unless they give up all their possessions. I think in our culture in our time, this world that is really radical, isn't that to think, wow, how can we do that? I mean, the whole world is oriented toward having possessions of some kind, and possessing what we've got, and keeping it and so that it gives us comfort and security. So this comes across, rather harsh, I think. But Jesus is trying to dig down deeper, to see to get them to the place of really acknowledging the Lordship of Christ in their life. Not just the potential benefits, but the person of Jesus, the person of Christ as Lord, who we follow with devotion.
 
This word hate is kind of kind of strong. I mean, is Jesus saying, unless you intensely dislike your family, and you even hate your life, you can't follow me. But the word really what he's saying there, and it says, it says it differently. in Matthew is, you must not love these more than me. If it comes to a choice, if it comes to a conflict between these things, and following me, you must follow me this must be your whole heart, your whole being, as we prayin our liturgy every Sunday, worship the Lord with all your heart, while your mind with all your soul with all your strength and all that is within us. The pulpit commentary says this, The Lord's teaching in this  this passage, in the parables and the sayings, presses home to his followers that no home love, no earthly affection, must ever come into competition with the love of God. If we are to be his followers, his disciples, that is the priority, the love of God. If a collision occurs between must those things must be gently Laid aside. Everything must be sacrificed to the cause. Jesus calls all to follow him in a word, to surrender. Amen. Have you surrendered to Jesus, surrender your life, surrender your plans, surrender your family, lay them in his hands, we can do that, can't we? Because ultimately, he is trustworthy. And Jesus calls his disciples to surrender all. And trust in him.
 
The Lord is calling us to a deeper level of trust here, to carry the cross and to give up all possessions, to carry the cross means  to take up the ways of Christ and go after him. When we carry the cross we make we sacrifice we make sacrifices in our life, for the benefits of others. Isn't that what Jesus did? He sacrificed his life for our benefit. When we carry the cross, we may expect an experienced persecution. carrying the cross means we will experience persecution and judgment in this world, from those who are on the other contrast, those who have rejected Jesus who are not following his God's ways. And then they are convicted by you and I are those who have surrendered to the Lord, and are being witnesses and trying to bring the kingdom out.
 
I remember when I used to work years ago when I was going to college, at a resort hotel. And God put me there and I was witnessing to everybody, all my fellow staff, as you know about Jesus, you know, you surrendered your life to him yet, and you have you have eternal life is awaiting you. And there was one young lady there who is very, you know, kind of resistant to what I was saying and but I was trying to, you know, be faithful to, you know, witness to her and to others. And so one night her friends came by to pick her up and I was working as a valet out front and they came driving up and she got in and the head of windows rolled down and, and I heard say,he's a Christian. Oh my gosh, they thought that was the most opportune moment. Hey Christian, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Praise Jesus mocking.
 
So carrying the cross means we will experience times when we get mocked. When we get persecuted, our brothers and sisters around the world are being killed,tortured and killed. I mean, that was just a little to me. And so naturally my response was, Lord, bless them, keep them, by Your Spirit upon. That's, that's an aspect of carrying our cross. Surrender. You cannot be my disciple. Unless you give up all your possessions. We give up all our possessions. When we acknowledge what when we acknowledge it, everything belongs to God,that we are not Lord over those possessions. God is Lord over those possessions. We are stewards of those possessions. We give up all possessions when we bring our ties in offerings, and bring them into the temple. So that that God's name may be glorified, and that the kingdom of God when we maybe participate with God, in the work of bringing the kingdom, we give up all our possessions, when we realize our very lives and souls are not our possessions. They are God's possession.
 
I had a real dramatic experience of this last Monday. Thank you for your prayers. By the way for last Monday, I went in for my procedure. On Monday morning, I checked into the hospital at 4:45 in the morning. And they wheeled me right in about quarter past six or 6:30. So we didn't go looking for this procedure. I was talking with some of the ladies last Sunday before and I said you know I think I I know I've reached a certain wonderful mature age in life when I can start having procedures. Yes, I have arrived to see some procedures. So they take me in for my procedure and the guy wheels me in, he's the anesthesiologist who says I'm going to give you a little something, you're gonna go Twilight. So you're gonna be like little Twilight experience. And you know, previously they make you listen to the recording, it says, Now some people will just sleep, the whole thing. Some people might be just kind of, you know, not really super aware, or some people might be wide awake. So you get me in there, they get me on the operating table, they hook all the things onto me. And I'm wide awake, I was wide awake for the whole thing. So that the surgeon comes in, I had an angioplasty, by the way, if you didn't know is where they went in, they put a couple stents and blockages and my arteries in my heart. So what they do as you're waiting there, and then they put a little thing in your wrist, they put a look out there in there. And they run a line, some kind of a strict you know, cable, I don't know, fiber optic thing, all the way up into your heart. So I'm laying there, and the surgeons, the guy and the team is going okay, now pushing it a little bit more. We're gonna go this way. And I'm like, wow, this is trippy. And I want to tell you, I realized at that moment, I am not in possession of my life. I am not in the driver's seat. God is in possession of my life. My life belongs to him. And thanks be to God and thank you for your prayers, that God decided he wants me around a little longer in this world. But it was a very dramatic instance of realizing that God is the one who owns my life, not me. I don't possess this life. I don't possess this body. It's given to me.
 
What I can possess and what we do possess is our true identity in Christ. And in that true identity, we will possess a physical body, a spiritual body, a resurrected body that will not have to have procedures any longer. Amen. surrender all to Christ. Trust in the Lord, give up our possessions. I think I wrote here, really what Jesus is calling us to do is to give up our possessiveness, our possessiveness, it says, This is my stuff. This is my life. This is my agenda, my glory. This surrender the cost of discipleship, then as a surrender of all these things, and a following of Jesus, this is the essence of our faith, my friends, it is out of this surrender out of this yielding, then that we begin to follow in obedience. And as we follow in obedience, then come the great benefits of following Jesus. We see this contrast clearly taking place. And the other passages today in the Old Testament. It spells out clearly the difference between these choices, follow God's ways, and receive the blessings, reject God's ways. And there are consequences. See, I have set before you says in Deuteronomy, see I've set before you life and prosperity, or death, and adversity. Which one will you choose? The contrast of choices? Gee, let me think which one, I think I'm gonna go with life and prosperity. obey the commandment of the Lord, loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, observing his decrees, and the results are life and blessings.
 
Now, it does require some intension, intentionality doesn't it?  to love the Lord. And surrender the love of other things that would get in the way.Some intentionality to walk in his ways. And not get pulled aside to walking in the ways of the world. Because all around us the message is being being data's love these other things, walk in the ways of the world. What's the matter with you, you Christians, you're you're you're not, you're not getting getting to you observe his decrees, and the results are life and blessing. But turn away serve other gods. And the Word of God says clearly, you will perish. There is an ultimate cost for those who reject God's offer of salvation, heaven and earth as witnesses I have given I've set before you this day, life and death, choose life. The song itself says happier they who are happier those who delight in the law of the Lord. They're like trees, planted by streams of water, I think is a really powerful image for us who live here in Bakersfield and then late summer with a heat scorching down. You know, the trees that are planted down there by the river. They're, they're not withering, they're nurtured and water of life is flowing into them. They're not touched by the heat.
 
So my friends in Scripture today, there's a clear contrast between those who follow God's ways. Those who are followers of Jesus, His disciples, and those who will not those who instead choose to follow the ways of the world, there are costs, Jesus makes clear, there is a cost there are costs of following him. Ultimately, that cost is a surrender, of allegiance of commitment, everything that is not from God. And there are also benefits, marvelous benefits that come as indeed there are costs to rejecting God. And the world often offers us false benefits. Try to lure us away. In the cost of discipleship Jesus calls all who will follow him that's you. Amen. And me and all of you out They're in Facebook land, and extending on out into the world. He calls us all to follow him in a radical surrender of faith in trusting the Lord, to let go of our possessions, our possessiveness, and trust in Him.
 
To be a disciple of Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus, then is to count the cost and count it a cost, worthy to pay, counted a cost, a willingness to give, count the costs of surrender in faith, and then to receive the benefits, His love, His presence, His provision, his grace in our lives, eternal life. I'd say that's worth the price. Amen. My friends here at Ascension, we are followers of Jesus, disciples, learners. Having counted the cost, we surrender our lives, we surrender our possessions, our possessiveness to you this morning, Lord, let us continue to follow Christ as our Lord and Savior, Christ our King. Let us yield to God's way so that he see he may lead and guide us, let us yield to God's ways and participate in the kingdom of God. And in doing so, we receive in in paying the price, we receive all His benefits. Amen, the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.