All that we have, All that we are

September 22,2019 Luke 16:1-13 15th Sunday after Pentecost Year C All that we have, All that we are Children’s Sermon: Object: A dollar bill Good morning, boys and girls. Our lesson from this Bible is about a man who used his boss' money to win friends. People use money in all kinds of ways. This morning I am going to use a dollar bill to talk about God. Have you ever noticed the pyramid in the left circle on the back? Look at the top of the pyramid. Do you see that eye? The Founding Fathers of our country believed that our strength was rooted in God, and our progress must be under His watchful eye. And so, at the top of the pyramid which represents our strength as a nation, they placed an eye to stand for the eye of God. So, the next time you are feeling very lonely and unloved, ask your Mom or Dad to loan you a dollar bill. Take that dollar bill and turn it around and look at the eye on the pyramid and say to yourself, "God is watching me right now. He loves me so much that everywhere I go His eye follows me. I am never alone, because I am God's child." Stewardship Moment: There’s an old story you may have heard before – a $1 bill and a $20 bill meet each other in a bank teller’s drawer. The $1 bill asks the $20 where have you been? “ Oh I’ve been to places that you have never dreamed of says Jackson’s head to Washington’s head. I have been to fancy restaurants, casinos, shopping malls – every week there is a new place to explore. How about you? Oh my life isn’t nearly as exciting as yours says the one, every week it’s the same old thing: church, church, church. Actually the church dollar has the more exciting life – because it get used for the practical things in life, like keeping the ultility bills on, ensuring that we have a place to gather every week, helping those in needs. The church dollar has a meaningful life. people depend on it, and it helps us to prioritize the important things in life. the money that we give to God has special powers to open the doors of heaven to see past our needs, and know that we have an eternal home to strive for in heaven. Luke 16:1-13 Common English Bible (CEB) Faithfulness with money 16 Jesus also said to the disciples, “A certain rich man heard that his household manager was wasting his estate. 2 He called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of your administration because you can no longer serve as my manager.’ 3 “The household manager said to himself, What will I do now that my master is firing me as his manager? I’m not strong enough to dig and too proud to beg. 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I am removed from my management position, people will welcome me into their houses. 5 “One by one, the manager sent for each person who owed his master money. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil.’[a] The manager said to him, ‘Take your contract, sit down quickly, and write four hundred fifty gallons.’ 7 Then the manager said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.’[b] He said, ‘Take your contract and write eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted cleverly. People who belong to this world are more clever in dealing with their peers than are people who belong to the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it’s gone, you will be welcomed into the eternal homes. 10 “Whoever is faithful with little is also faithful with much, and the one who is dishonest with little is also dishonest with much. 11 If you haven’t been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 If you haven’t been faithful with someone else’s property, who will give you your own? 13 No household servant can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Footnotes: a. Luke 16:6 Or one hundred jugs (approximately nine gallons each) b. Luke 16:7 Or eighty measures (ten to twelve bushels each) Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible I have to confess that there are weeks like this when Jesus makes my life miserable. Sometimes Jesus says stuff that is just outrageous. And as a pastor I am expected to stand here and make sense of it. Most of the time, the commentators can do damage control and explain the craziness away. And this week they have really tried, but it has done no good. There is no helping this one. Jesus tells the story of a manager, who the boss discovers that he has been doing something wrong and is going to fire him. And he protects himself by calling on all of the people who owe the boss money and lessoning their bill. In their world – saving face and making money is everything so the owner leaves him alone. He actually pats the manager on the back and says good job. But in my bible, cheating is cheating is cheating. And this guy was a cheater. I have been fascinated at how many of the commentators have explained away his behavior – but none have really convinced me. Why would Jesus tell us a story about a cheater. Jesus has a way of telling people what they needed to hear, and saying it in a language that they would understand. The End of the Value of Money In his book, How to Preach a Parable, Eugene Lowry says that in order to understand a parable we must look for the itch before we can feel the scratch. We must sense the tension before we can receive relief from the tension. We must place ourselves in the puzzling setting before we can see the resolution to the puzzle. Lowry calls this "finding the focus of the story." All this talk about participation and finding the focus notwithstanding, what do we do with the steward who is a rascal, making deals with shady debtors and a master who commends the shrewdness of his steward for the deals he makes? What's the sharp point Jesus is trying to make? The sharp point of this parable is that the master commends the use of money for people, instead of for pride, power, position, and possessions. In other words, the value of money and possession comes to a dead end when we die. The sharp point of this parable is that money and possessions will do us no good when we arrive at eternity and face the judgment of God. Ron Lavin, Sermons for Sundays After Pentecost (Middle Third): Only the Lonely, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. I think that there are some important lessons for us as today’s church to get out of this scripture. Fall is the time for us to think about what it means to be good stewards – or wise managers – so we can think about these stories, and how we would handle these situations with all that Jesus has taught us. Like Running a Business There was an interesting legal question posed in The Saturday Evening Post recently. It seems that one lovely Sunday when the sermon was overlong, the congregation rushed, as usual, from its pews on the first syllable of "Amen!" Faithful Abigail, the only worshiper held entranced by the sermon, moved slowly and was trampled. She sued the church and its officials for damages. "Those in charge of the church knew that most of the congregation stampedes after long sermons," Abigail argued. "They should have recognized the danger in the situation. Not being prepared to cope with it, they were negligent." The church's attorney argued like this in response: "A church is a nonprofit organization manned for the most part by volunteers. No one has a right to expect it to be run with the smart efficiency of a business concern. Abigail, therefore, has no real claim." If you were the judge, asks the writer, would you award damages to Abigail? What I found interesting in this hypothetical situation was the characterization of the church. "A church is a nonprofit organization manned for the most part by volunteers. . . No one has a right to expect it to be run with the smart efficiency of a business. . . ." Why not? What if we were as good at what we do as McDonald's is at what they do, or Coca Cola or Microsoft? What if we were as committed to spreading the good news of the kingdom of God as American business is to winning new customers? This is the point Jesus is trying to make. He wants people who bear his name to not only be nice people but to be people who make a difference in the world. Imagine what the world would be like, if the church was just as determined to be the body of Christ, as Apple was to make money? If everybody was as excited about the church as they were about the new apple phone – think of how many people we could reach. This lesson is also about learning to make friends with the world. Everybody was greatful to the conniving steward because he did them a favor, they all wanted to be his friend and welcome him onto their homes. How can we help people understand that Jesus has done so much more for them and they should be grateful. Even in our own lives – where do we place God amongst our priorities? We give to our hobbies, we give to the interest that capture our hearts, we give to our lives – what do we give to God? It is not so much about how much we give, it is about how much of our hearts do we give to God? Do we put God in one corner, and our lives in the other, or do we realize that God comes first in all things. And that we can give to God from what we have. Jesus has a way of using real life examples to teach us, because he reminds us that we live in real life. the church is an institution here on earth, and we have to live in real life sitations. The situations are not different, but how we handle them are. Humor: You Took Me In Henry Ford was known for both his frugality and his philanthropy. He was visiting his family's ancestral village in Ireland when two trustees of the local hospital found out he was there, and they managed to get in to see him. They talked him into giving the hospital $5,000 dollars (this was the 1930's, so $5,000 dollars was a great deal of money). The next morning, at breakfast, he opened his newspaper to read the banner headline: "American Millionaire Gives Fifty Thousand to Local Hospital." Ford wasted no time in summoning the two hospital trustees. He waved the newspaper in their faces. "What does this mean?" he demanded. The trustees apologized profusely. "Dreadful error," they said. They promised to get the editor to print a retraction the very next day, stating that the great Henry Ford hadn't given $50,000, but only $5,000. Well, hearing that, Ford offered them the other $45,000, under one condition: that the trustees erect a marble arch at the entrance of the new hospital, with a plaque that read, "I walked among you and you took me in." Billy D. Strayhorn, Let's Make a Deal In the story of the shrewd manager, the manager was saved by taking a money transaction and making it a friends transaction. He made friends by doing a favor for them. He knew that in the future they would have to return the favor. He insured that he has a lot of friends for a very long time. I still don’t think there is any salvation for his actions. But I think that lesson for us is to conscious that in this world – money is important but it isn’t everything. There are many things in life that money cannot buy – like real friendship, real integrity, a real relationship with God, a real future that we can trust and be careful. We all have to face those decisions and we all have a choice to make. The final words of this verse – is that you cant serve two masters – either you follow the ways of God or the ways of the world. Place for Money Jesus seems to be saying there is a place for money in our lives. It would be foolish to imagine that we could get by without money in a society like ours. As we have noted before, there are some things only money can do. Pay for health care, for example. Many people in our society are facing a crisis because they either can’t get or can’t afford decent health insurance. Fifty years old? Diabetic? Laid off from your job? Just try to find a health insurer who will cover you . . . at any price! I guarantee you that even if you can find it, you can’t afford it. There are some things only money can do. Put a roof on our heads, put food in our tummies, fill up our car with gas. Try to do it without money. Impossible. There is a place for money in our lives. Jesus knew that. He was a most practical man. He knew that there are some things only money can do. Jesus is saying, however, that we are in deep trouble if money has first place in our lives. Money is a nice servant but a terrible master. King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com As we begin to think about our church, stewardship and making decisions about how we support the church all good things to consider. Let us pray….. Additional Illustrations...... The sons of light Luke calls Christians the sons of light. For Luke, sons of the age where the Jews, sons of the world were others, and sons of the light were those who were able to put God first in their lives. When Shrewdness Wins the Day Dan Miller in his book No More Dreaded Mondays tells a delightful story about a farmer many years ago in a village in India who had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the village moneylender. The old and ugly moneylender fancied the farmer’s beautiful daughter, so he proposed a bargain. He would forgive the farmer’s debt if he could marry the farmer’s daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal, but the cunning moneylender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. The girl would have to reach in and pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. If she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail until the debt was paid. They were standing on a pebble-strewn path in the farmer’s field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. The sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble. Now, imagine that you were the girl standing in the field. What would you have done? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities: (1) the girl could refuse to take a pebble--but her father would then be thrown in jail. (2) The girl could pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from debt and imprisonment. Or (3) the girl could pull out both black pebbles in the bag, expose the moneylender as a cheat, and likely incite his immediate revenge. Here is what the girl did. She put her hand into the money bag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path, where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me,” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble was black, it would have to be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl would have changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one. Don’t we all love stories where the good guy uses his or her wit and cunning to defeat a villain? It may disturb us when a villain uses that same wit and cunning. And yet Jesus once told his disciples a parable about a dishonest man who did just that. Dan Miller, No More Dreaded Mondays, Broadway Books, 2008. Adapted by King Duncan _______________________ I Have Never Told the Half of It! Sometimes people tease me about speaking about God’s love and grace so much and when they do, I think of Marco Polo. In the 14th century, when he came back to Venice from his travels in Cathay, Marco Polo described the incredible wonders he had seen there. People didn’t believe him and for the rest of his life (and even on his death bed) they tried to get him to confess that he had lied and exaggerated about the wonders he had described. His last answer was: “I never told the half of it!” That’s the way I feel about God’s love and grace – “I have never told the half of it!” James W. Moore,www.Sermons.com

A Mother's Love

I John 5:1-6 John 15: 9-17 May 13, 2012 “A Mother’s Love” Sixth Sunday of Easter Mother’s Day Year B When God Created Mothers – Erma Bombeck When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into his sixth day of “overtime” when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.” And the Lord said, “Have you read the specs on this order? • She has to be completely washable, but not plastic; • Have 180 movable parts... all replaceable; • Run on black coffee and leftovers; • Have a lap that disappears when she stands up; • A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair; • And six pairs of hands.” The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands... no way.” “It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord. “It’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have.” “That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel. The Lord nodded. “One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, ’What are you kids doing in there?’ when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn’t but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say, ’I understand and I love you’ without so much as uttering a word.” “Lord,” said the angel, touching His sleeve gently, “Go to bed. Tomorrow...” “I can’t,” said the Lord, “I’m so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick... can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger... and can get a nine-year-old to stand under a shower.” The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. “It’s too soft,” she sighed. “But she’s tough!” said the Lord excitedly. “You cannot imagine what this mother can do or endure.” “Can it think?” “Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise,” said the Creator. Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told You You were trying to push too much into this model.” “It’s not a leak,” said the Lord. “It’s a tear.” “What’s it for?” “It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride.” “You are a genius,” said the angel. The Lord looked somber. “I didn’t put it there,” He said. Mother’s Love a divine love What better way to talk about love, than to talk about our mothers. Mothers show a special kind of love. Mother is not just a person, a divine function, more importantly it is a divine relationship That is the lessons of these two books – I John and John 15. Love is a divine relationship- that comes only from God. Like grapes, God clings to us and we cling to God. These books teach us to abide in God, love only comes from God. Today the lesson that Jesus gives us is to love as I have loved you. Because of love I no longer call you a servant, I call you a friend. What it means to be a friend Mother is not a friend, has to discipline us, but in the true understanding of Jesus idea of friend, she is. Jewish understanding of compassion is the same word as womb. Place of love and nurturing. A friend is someone who is loved. The old English word friend mean someone who is beloved. A special relationship – a clinging. A mothers clings to her son During the holocaust whole families were taken and put in prison camps. Families would worry about mothers and fathers, because knew that the older people who couldn’t be productive would be the first to be killed. The Russel family knew that also their young son Frank would also be killed – he was frail and couldn’t work. One day the father came home from work and found his older son in a corner crying. Frank couldn’t do his work today – and they took him away. Where is your mother – when Frank started to cry – she assured him that he would be okay – she held his hand and walked away with him. She clung to him no matter what. A mother’s love is like Jesus love, like God’s love for us – clings to us and our situations – no matter what. Jesus says what greater love does one have for a friend then to lay down his life. Hold our hand to death – but leads us to resurrection life. Hank Aaron’s mother In the 1970’s in the south, a baseball player, Hank aaron was scheduled to break babe ruth’s record of most home runs. Many white people were really upset, and the closer he got the the record, he got death threats. The day he broke the record, two white males stormed onto the field. Security rushed to stop them. Along with the security guards – they looked around and found a 65 year old African American women – his mother. Mom what are you doing here – anyone who tries to get you – has to get me first. In some way – our mother is our first relationship, our primary relationship. The relationship where we learn how to receive love, but most importantly how to receive love. How to care for others – how to care for all of God’s children. 1870 call to peace Mothers day started out in 1870 as a call to peace. Julia Ward Howe gave a proclamation to all mothers. Arise, the women of this day Arise, all women who have heart, who have been baptized with water or with tears. She called all women to unite, to from groups and to stop the violence and war that plagues our nation. What would the world be like if women ruled the world? Te capital building would probably have more curtains and tablecloths. But each of our children killed by violence and war would be remembered by name. they would be children, not numbers. And we would have a mandate to make the world safe for them. Love one another as god loves us – is an important message. I John adds to that message. If we are able to love the son, we are able to love the father. Love is a commandment that we are called to obey. If we just obey that commandment – we can overcome the world. Transform the world and overcome our troubles. Love transforms the world Mother’s day story that is going viral - story of a mom who was told that something wrong with baby in the womb. Decided that she would love her baby no matter what. Born with no eyes, cleft palate so bad he could close his mouth. Try to take the baby out – people would ask what’s wrong with your baby. Girl said that she was wrong for not aborting her baby. Hurt by all of the comments. Baby Christian continued to grow and respond to love. Learned to laugh and smile – as he laugh, everyone else started to love with him. The rest of the world started to laugh and smile with him and call him and his mother blessed. When we understand love, we are beloved, learn to give life, and have the power to change toworld. – God gave us mothers so that we could know a mother’s love. Mother’s love is the best bible Four scholars were arguing over Bible translations. One said he preferred the King James Version because of its beauty and eloquent old English. Another said he liked the New American Standard Version for its literalism and how it moves the reader from passage to passage with confident feelings of accuracy from the original text. The third scholar was sold on the New Living Translation for its use of contemporary phrases and idioms that capture the meaning of difficult ideas. After being quiet for a moment, the fourth scholar admitted: “I have personally preferred my mother’s translation.” When the other scholars started laughing, he said, “Yes, she translated the Scriptures. My mom translated each page of the Bible into life. It is the most convincing translation I have ever read.” Let us pray…

What is so Special about Today?

“What’s so different about Today?”
1 John 5:1-6
John 15:12-17
May 17, 2009


Repeat these words after me: Abide, love, joy, commandment, friends.

These are the important lessons to remember about the scripture today. Abide in Jesus Christ, Love one another, find your joy within the love of God, obey God’s commandments, and remember Jesus is always your friend.

I am a lectionary preacher, which means that there are certain scriptures that we preach from, based on a three year cycle. For the last few weeks after Easter, we have been studying scriptures from Acts, 1 John, and the book of John. Every week it seems that it is the same old thing – love, love, love love. It is the same thing love one another, love God , love Jesus. I am beginning to wonder, just how many sermons can one person preach on the subject of love. The word love is actually mentioned 8 different times in the gospel lesson.
And it doesn’t stop there. Jesus likes to teach this lesson over and over.


He said, the two great commandments are this: that you love God with
everything that you have, your heart, soul, mind and strength (or as another
translation puts it - your passion, prayer and intelligence 2) and love your
neighbour, each other, as you love yourself.

Elsewhere he told his disciples to love their enemies as well as their
friends. It is this inclusiveness of Jesus, which is often so hard to
follow. Our friends are often hard to love, let alone those we don’t think
of as our friends. Most of us have people we find hard to get on with,
people we find unattractive, those who outwardly oppose us, or make our
lives difficult.

But Jesus wants us to be as loving and concerned for one another as he is
for us. There is so much that we can do which will enable us to remain
abiding in God’s love by reaching out to those around us.

Respect, generosity, kindness, gentleness, compassion, encouragement are all
precursors for love. They are the things which build up a person and give
them confidence.

As church we are called to live lives which reflect our Lord and Master.

You have to notice, that Jesus didn’t make his teachings about love a friendly suggestion, or a helpful hint, but a commandment - We are commanded to Love one another as I have loved you.
We all know that it is not possible to love everybody. Not everybody is like us, not everybody proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord. And I don’t know about you, but loving people that I don’t know is not my struggle. It is harder to show love to the people that you come in contact with all of the time. Our family members, our coworkers, our neighbors, people whom you have to deal with, but you don’t understand. And you don’t see eye to eye with – how are you to get along with them? That is the challenge.
John 15 is all about the vine – and being connected to the vine. If we commit to live our life in the love of God – we have to power to love any one in any situation. Jesus says that if you abide in me , and my word abides in you – then you can ask and it shall be given. Prayer – is the only way to love others.
But in this scripture, Jesus gives us another powerful secret weapon to get through life.
Back in the day – There were people who had special status – they were known as friends of the king. They were allowed into the kings chamber the first thing in the morning. They knew all about the kings life and all about the kings decisions. Before the king would discuss politics with their advisors, he would discuss his plans with his friends. When the friends were in the street, and they were about to get robbed, or stopped by a soldier, or in the market with no money – they had this little card that they could pull out that was signed by the king. That card read that this was a friend of the emporer – and that absolutely no harm was to come of him or her. Everyone knew not to mess with a friend of the king – thy lived their lives in peace.

Jesus gives us all that same ticket. He says no one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for one’s friend. You are my friends if you do what I command. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing. But I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my father.
Jesus was a master amongst the masters. Jesus teachings are considered the greatest in the world – right up there with muhammed, Buddha, confuscios, Moses, Elijah. But the one thing about all of those great teachers, - they were always in control. They didn’t have no friends, they would never stoop down to the level of their students.
Jesus is a friend to everyone who listens to his words and obeys. He not only tells us to love – he loves us. He makes us a part of the most precious love affair in the world – the love of God the father and Jesus the son. If you are connected to that love you can love anybody. Love one another as I have loved you.
Love is how we feel about others, love is not whether we like people. Love is how we live and what we do.
What makes this scripture any different today then yesterday. How many times do we listen to a sermon on love – every day. Love is how we chose to take the next step, it how we respond to people, it is how we treat one another. Every day we need to be reminded of how important is it to love.
Amen.