Sermon Tone Analysis
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*How to Buy Friends*
November 16, 2003
I’m 30 now.
Thank you for all the “happy birthdays,” it was *almost* worth having them pull out that *awful picture**.*
· It’s more fun laughing at *someone* *else* senior pictures.
· When you look at this, this is what you see.
· When I look at it, I see *this*.
*A Commendable crime*
In Luke, we read one of Jesus’ *stranger* parables, strange because it *ends* with Jesus *commending* a man who *cheated* his boss out of $20,000.
There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.
2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you?
Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
3 The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now?
My master is taking away my job.
I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg-- 4 I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will *welcome* me into their houses.’
5 So he called in each one of his master’s debtors.
He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it *four* hundred.’
7 Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do *you* owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it *eight* *hundred*.’
8 The master *commended* the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.
For the people of *this* world are *more* *shrewd* in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the *light*.
/Luke 16:1-8 NIV/
This manager is doing a *lousy* job, maybe *embezzling*.
He gets his pink slip, but before goes, he *bribes* these guys by *fiddling* with the books and *reducing* their debts.
· The boss catches him and says, “That was pretty clever.”
· Jesus end by saying, “Go and do likewise.”
!?!
You know that bank robber who got away?
People of the light should be more like *him*!
Q: *Why* does Jesus hold this guy up as an *example*?
A: Because there *is* something *commendable* about what he did.
· Even in his deceitfulness, there is something for *us* to learn.
Sometimes it’s the Scriptures that make the *least* *sense* that we need to pay the *closest* attention to.
They may be strange because they’re something we’ve *never* thought of.
· They are new territory.
*This* passage certainly *is* new territory: Jesus is teaching us how to *buy* *friends*.
· He is teaching us the *eternal* value of money
· He is showing us how to make money last *forever*.
The value of money
The value of money does *not* lie in the things it can buy.
Things are not necessarily *good* or *bad*, but they are *temporary*, passing.
· I was so excited to get my new *laptop computer*.
· How does *God* view my excitement?
· He must see it as *I* see Grace’s excitement over a *washcloth*.
It’s not *bad*, but its *value* falls so *short* of the gifts I want to give her.
The laptop’s *value* falls far short of His *real* gifts.
· Grace still enjoys her washcloth as much as I enjoy *my laptop*.
Money has influence that is *out* of *proportion* to its purchasing *power*.
We use it to buy *power*, *security*, or *acceptance*.
· When we use it for *power*, for *security*, or for *acceptance*, money no longer serves *us*, we serve *it*.
Jesus was using this parable to teach us the *real* value of money.
It is *impossible* to understand the parable without looking at what he said *after* it.
· Jesus teaches us *three* ways that money can have *eternal* *value*.
1.
Money is valuable because it *tests* our *priorities*.
No servant can serve two masters; for either he will *hate* the one, and *love* the other, or else he will *hold* to one, and *despise* the other.
You cannot serve *God* and *mammon*.
/Luke 16:13 NASB/
*Mammon *
Q: What is the difference between *mammon* and *money*?
We got the word English “*mammon*” directly from Jesus’ teachings in *this* passage.
It is a very *negative* Aramaic word for *money*, filthy lucre.
· Mammon may have been the name of a *pagan* *god* of *money*.
· Mammon is a *rival* god – we either serve *it* or serve *God*.
Mammon is an *unusual* word; the only time it occurs in the Bible is in *this* teaching.
Jesus uses it because He wants to *impress* on us the *danger* of money.
· *Few* things can pull us away from God like *money*.
...the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
/1 Timothy 6:10 NIV/
There’s *two things* about money that will reveal if we are serving *God* or *mammon*, because these two things test our *priorities*:
· The *compromises* we make to *get* money.
· The *purchases* we make once we *have* it.
Take out a *bill* and look at it.
How many times do you think it has been used to *do* *harm*?
How many times to *do* *good*?
· What is it going to be used on *next*?
2.
Money is valuable because it *teaches* us to be *trustworthy*.
In that same passage, Jesus said:
Whoever can be trusted with very *little* can also be *trusted* with *much*, and whoever is dishonest with very *little* will also be dishonest with *much*.
So if you have not been *trustworthy* in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with *true* riches?
/Luke 16:10-11 NIV/
Jesus is making *two* important points:
1) Worldly wealth is not *real* riches.
...if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
2) Money prepares us for real riches – it is the “very little.”
· When we look at money we see *this*.
· When God looks at it, He sees *this*.
Money isn’t real riches, but it is *important*.
It *teaches* us how to use *real* treasure.
· *How* we treat money shows God if He can *trust* us with things of *real* value.
3.
Money is valuable because it can be *invested* *eternally*.
The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted *shrewdly*.
For the people of this world are *more* *shrewd* in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
/Luke 16:8 NIV/
Jesus used the *manager* as an example because he was *shrewd* with money.
Being shrewd is a *good* thing.
It means to be *wise*, to look *ahead*, *invest* for the future.
· The manager was shrewd because he *bought* *friends*.
· But he was *unwise* because he chose a *short*-*term* investment.
· We are called to make *eternal* investments with our money.
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