18th Sunday Pentecost
Sermon 18Th Sunday Pentecost
“Old Lamps for New!”
LUKE 16:1‑13
1. Jesus said to HIS friends, “One rich man had a house servant. That servant took‑care‑of the house. And the rich man blamed the servant with wasting his things.
2. And the rich man called the servant and said, ‘What do I hear about you? Give‑me an exact counting of your work, because you will not remain my house servant.’
3. The house servant thought, ‘What will I do? My boss takes‑away my work of servant. I am not strong enough to dig. I feel ashamed to beg.
4. I know what I will do. Then after my boss dismisses me from my work, then they will accept me into their house.’
5. And the servant called everyone with debts to his boss, and he said to the first man, ‘How‑much do you owe my boss?’
6. The man answered, ‘Nine hundred GALLONS of OIL.’ And the chief servant said to him, ‘Take your BILL and sit and write four hundred fifty GALLONS.’
7. Then the servant said to another man, ‘How‑much do you owe?’ The man answered, ‘One thousand BUSHELS of WHEAT.’ And the chief servant said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eight hundred.’
8. And the boss praised the sinful house servant, because he did a clever thing. Because the children of this world are wiser about people, than the children of God.
9. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves through sinful use of your money, then after that money is all‑gone, they will accept you into their eternal homes.
10. The person that takes‑care‑of not important things will also take‑care‑of really important things. And the person not honest about little things, will also not be‑honest about really important things.
11. Now, if you can’t be‑trusted with earthly money, do you think God will trust you with true spiritual riches?
12. And if you aren’t careful with things that belong to another person, do you think God will give you more things for yourself?
13. No servant can obey two bosses. He will hate one boss and love the other boss. Or the servant will follow the one boss and don’t‑care about the other boss. You can’t attend to God and to earthly things.”
Intro
The old story about a boy name ALADDIN and his magic lamp may help us understand our Bible lesson for today. Remember the evil man wanted to trade the NEW lamps for “OLD” lamps. The evil man said “New lamps for old!”
Really, the evil man wanted the “Old” lamp of ALADDIN because the lamp had magical power. The evil man was acting (pretend) kind to take advantage (rip off or steal). The old lamp of ALADDIN gave 3 wishes to the new owner. The evil man wanted the power of the old lamp. The evil man was not interested in being kind and giving away new things in trade for old things. Only Jesus does gives away best for worse. No! Kindness was not the aim (goal) of the evil man but selfish power and comfort!
Suppose (idea) someone wanted to give you a cold full Pepsi (can) for your old Pepsi can. “New cold Pepsi for your old empty can!” Sounds (seems) like a great deal (profit)! Right? Right! However (but), if your old empty can had a stamp worth a million dollars at the bottom, would it still be a great deal (trade)? No! No! No way!
In our reading this morning, Jesus tells a PARABLE. A PARABLE is a story of comparison (mirror to mirror story). Jesus tells his 12 friends a comparison story about a servant-man working for his boss. The man was a bad worker and a thief. Verse 2, “And the rich man called the servant and said, ‘What do I hear about you? Give‑me an exact counting of your work, because you will not remain my house servant.’”
The boss knows the truth and calls the servant to stand in front! The servant is a very bad man and stole from his boss. The servant needs to be fired or put in jail!
We agree with the boss. We don’t like stealing and cheating. We don’t like the things the servant has done to his boss. This is evil! We are angry the same as servant’s boss.
However (but), be careful! This is also a story about us. The parable (comparison story) is about all men (people) and their boss, God. We all have been lazy and cheated God. 2 Corin. 5:9-10, “9 Whether we live in the body or move out of it, our goal is to be pleasing to him. 10 All of us must appear in front of Christ’s judgment seat. Then all people will receive what they deserve for the good or evil they have done while living in their bodies.”[1]
God has provided all good things for us. We, His people, have house, home, children, job, cars, money, health, sunshine, air, water, earth, and etc. God has freely given to us. ?What have we done with the life God has given to us? ?Have we been honest and good with our life? ?Have we served God and other people? God will says to us someday, “Give‑me an exact counting of your work...”
Oh boy! A scary accounting we must give to God. ?What can we offer to God? We know we have nothing to offer! Isaiah 64:6, “We’ve all become unclean, and all our righteous acts are like permanently stained rags. All of us shrivel like leaves, and our sins carry us away like the wind.[2]?” Very scary! Very scary for us to stand in front of our Holy God!
Maybe we can learn from the evil servant? Yeah, that is right! We can learn from the evil servant in the story. Verses 3-4, “The house servant thought, ‘What will I do? My boss takes‑away my work of servant. I am not strong enough to dig. I feel ashamed to beg…’” ?What can we do when God comes for our account?
We all are standing on tall towers we call our life. We have built and worked for many years. We have put each brick into place. Some people have built great tall towers that are beautiful. Some of us have built ordinary (small) towers. But all the towers will come crashing down when (happen) death slams (crash) into our window. Satan is launching (send) his flying terrors everyday. Satan wants to slam (crash) into our life. Luke 22:31-32, “Then the Lord said, “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to have you apostles for himself. He [Satan] wants to separate you [Peter] from me [Jesus] as a farmer separates wheat from husks. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. So when you recover, strengthen the other disciples.”[3] Satan wants us to be suffering and crying.
The people of the WTC towers, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania flight, were not expecting the trouble that came their way. We are God’s children. We must smarten up! We should be expecting trouble! We know the day is coming when we will be called into account. We know our accounts are NOT in shape! We are like the cheating servant. The boss has caught us! ?Now what will we do? We must be wise like the cheating servant.
The cheating servant saved himself and many debtors to his boss a lot of pain and trouble. The cheating servant used the little power he had left to make a comfort for himself. The servant used the boss’s bank account. The cheating servant also helped ease the debts of others. Maybe the cheating servant got more for the master than he [cheating servant] realized. Listen (attention) to the masters words in verse 8 “And the boss praised the sinful house servant, because he did a clever thing. Because the children of this world are wiser about people, than the children of God.”
The cheating servant told the debtors to cut their payments in half, but pay now. The servant saved them a lot of money and at the same time the servant made many good friends. ?If someone REFINANCED (cut) your mortgage bill by half for free, wouldn’t you love them for it? Yes! The person would be a friend for life. Ha! Smile!
Jesus is telling us that the things of this world are important to many people. The things of this world should not be that important us…God’s children. The money and things of this world should not be a great worry for God’s children. ?Right? We have hope, joy, and the promise of eternal life. ?What does DONALD TRIUMP or HOWARD HUGHES have greater than us? Money and things are nothing but disappearing towers and shattering glass. We have Jesus! We have God’s very best! Soon we will also have the comfort of heaven!
We should use our money and things to bring people joy, comfort, and peace in the Gospel [forgiveness of Jesus]. Use your money and material wealth to bring people to the knowledge of Jesus and eternal life! Sure! This life stinks! This life has many problems! But use the little power you have for good! The cheating servant used the little power he had left to bring comfort for himself and other people.
?Do we have the power to cut the debts sinners owe to God? Yes! We have his promises. We are the servants of God. Colossians 1:13-14 says, “God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves. His Son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven.” [4]
Jesus also gave us His authority to forgive sins. ?Remember? John 20:23, “ Whenever you forgive sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”[5] As the cheating servant has no wealth of his own…to forgive debts, we also have no wealth of our own to forgive sins. But we have the wealth of Christ! We forgive debts and sins on His account. We take advantage (profit) and others profit because we have a great King…a great Boss…a Great and Loving Father. When (happen) we arrive in heaven it will be on Christ’s account (bank). Our life and service is pitiful (small), ugly, and worthless! [As the cheating servant in the parable was worthless!] But thanks be to God we can use our unworthy life for His worthy cause (reason)…saving other people.
Maybe, people will come up to us in heaven and welcome us into their homes and say, “Thank you!
You saved my life! You are a treasure! Your Sunday
School…your prayers…your teaching…your preaching…your sign singing…your attitude…saved my life…I owe everything to you!”
We will say this was on Christ’s TAB. You owe me nothing…I was only a servant canceling a debt…a debt paid by Jesus at Calvary! I am only a lowly servant granted (given) the wealth of heaven! I passed on a profit to you because it made me rich! Isaiah 1:18, “Come on now, let’s discuss this!” says the Lord.
“Though your sins are bright red,
they [sins] will become as white as snow.
Though they [sins] are dark red,
they [sins] will become as white as wool.”[6]
“New lamps for old!” Jesus’ riches for my poverty (poor)! Jesus’ innocent blood for my sinful soul! Ah! From rags to riches by Christ’s great giving! “New lamps for old!” Amen!
----
[1]God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society, (Grand Rapids, MI: World Publishing) 1997.
[2]God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society, (Grand Rapids, MI: World Publishing) 1997.
[3]God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society, (Grand Rapids, MI: World Publishing) 1997.
[4]God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society, (Grand Rapids, MI: World Publishing) 1997.
[5]God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society, (Grand Rapids, MI: World Publishing) 1997.
[6]God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society, (Grand Rapids, MI: World Publishing) 1997.