For the week of September 18-24, 2022 – 15th week after Pentecost
Morning prayer: Everlasting God, We serve many masters—work, wealth, power, addictions—yet find no hope in them. Forgive us, Compassion's Heart, and heal us of our brokenness. Make us well, so that by our healing, we might be the hope and love others need in their lives. Call us to be faithful with the grace, peace, and joy entrusted to us. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn: #189 Fairest Lord Jesus
- Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown. - Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands, robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer who makes the woeful heart to sing. - Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry host:
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast. - Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations! Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration, now and forevermore be Thine.
Call to Worship Psalm 4
Answer me when I call, O God of my right! You gave me room when I was in distress. Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.
How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame? How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies? Selah
But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him.
When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. Selah
Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.
There are many who say, “O that we might see some good! Let the light of Your face shine on us, O Lord!”
You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound.
I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for You alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.
Children’s message Luke 16:1-13
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
I wonder if you had to make a choice this morning. I would guess that you even have had to make a choice already today. Did you have to choose what clothes to wear? Did you choose what you had for breakfast this morning? We may even have to choose if we want to pay a certain price for something at the store or wait until we find it on sale or priced lower. Yes, we certainly have a lot of choices in life.
Today’s words of Jesus are about choices. Jesus tells us the story of a clever manager. This manager asks all who work for him to think about the choices in life. If we think about it, we must pay for things in this life.
Jesus told one story about a man who was going to lose his job. So, before he did, he changed some price tags and told people to pay less than they were supposed to. In this case, the reason Jesus told this story is that he did not want people to become too worried about money. The clever manager from the story did what was most important. By switching prices on items, he got the rich man what he could.
Jesus reminded the people who heard this story that everything we have in life is a gift from God and that nothing should ever come between us and God. Jesus reminds us that in this life, “stuff” can come and go. Jesus wants to make sure that when we have things, we use those things wisely. Whether it is money or other things, we should always remember that the things we have are all gifts from God!
What do you think is the most important thing? It’s God who gives us everything. If we think about it, we are just borrowing things, so we want to make sure we take care of those things!
PRAYER: God of love, remind us of the most important thing—you! You have given each of us special abilities. Provide us with the opportunity to show how much we love you by sharing our talents and time with others. Help us to always keep the most important thing as the most important thing. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession: Thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers for those dear to our hearts. We now pray as You have taught us: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: Woody Wolfe and Heart to Hand Ministry ministers to children weekly in four PA hospitals and various hospitals around the world. He is a missionary who encourages the children with music.
Offering prayer: Holy giver of all good blessings, we find ourselves under a debt we can never overcome. Every blessing we have received or hope to receive comes from Your generosity. The gifts we bring to You this morning pale in comparison to the bottom line of our ledger. Yet You manage Your kingdom on a different economic model – one where the equity is grace, forgiveness, compassion, mercy, and justice. You encourage us to be shrewd in the world’s money, knowing it is not the currency that matters in the end. And so, we pray in the name of Jesus, whose life and death paid our debt. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn #451 Be Thou My Vision
- Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. - Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word; I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, great God of heaven, my treasure Thou art. - Great God of heaven, my victory won, may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Gospel Lesson Luke 16:1-13
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Message An Interesting Raffle Rev. Ron French
There’s an old story that many of you may have heard about a young man in Montana who bought a horse from a farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day. However, when the next day arrived, the farmer reneged on his promise. “I’m afraid the horse has died,” he exclaimed. “Well, then give me back my money,” the young man said. The farmer replied, “Can’t do that. I already spent it.” The young man thought for a moment and said, “Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.” The farmer asked, “What are you going to do with a dead horse?” And the young man replied, “I’m gonna raffle it off.” “You can’t raffle off a dead horse,” said the farmer. The young man said, “Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.” A month later, the farmer met up with the young man and asked, “What happened to the dead horse?” The young man said, “I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at $2 apiece and made a profit of $998.” “Didn’t anyone complain,” the farmer asked. And the young man said, “Just the guy who won. So I gave him back his $2.”
Now that’s an enterprising young man. We might even call him something of a con-man. There’s something about a con-man that captures the imagination. There have been several weekly television shows through the years in which the hero is a former con-man who now uses his skills for the greater good. Jesus told a parable about a man with that kind of wily disposition. He, too, was something of a con-man.
You know the story quite well, I just read it to you. Let me remind you of the highlights. There was a rich man who had a manager of his estate. Unfortunately, the manager was a bit lax in the oversight of his master’s affairs. The master decided he had had enough. He called the manager in, told him he was finished, and demanded that he provide an accounting of his work. The manager was terrified. He didn’t know what he would do. He wasn’t strong enough to dig and he was too ashamed to beg. Then he hatched a plan. He called in each of his master’s debtors and asked them what they owed his master. The first debtor owed 100 jugs of olive oil. The manager told him to make it 50. The next debtor owed 100 containers of wheat. The manager made it 80. The manager’s ethics were a bit out of whack, but his sense of survival was kicking in at full speed. He used his privileged position to buy himself some friends so that he would have somewhere to turn when he was out of a job. Of course, he was taking a risk -- the risk that the master would have him thrown in jail. That’s what should have happened, but this is Jesus’ parable and Jesus many times thought outside the box. Listen to how Jesus ended this tale: “And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” (8-9)
Wait a minute. Did we hear that right? The master commended the dishonest manager? In most of Jesus’ parables, the master represents God. So, what does this mean? Does God like con-men? That would be outrageous. We glamorize con-men, but the truth is that they take advantage of weak and unsuspecting people. I suspect that God does not like con-men or con-women. However, for more than 2,000 years conscientious people of faith have struggled with this parable -- and I think that is exactly what Jesus intended. He wants us to puzzle over his teachings. He wants us to stretch our minds and our spirits. This is how we grow. Let’s face it, many people have a superficial faith to which they have never given more than a couple minutes of thought in their entire lives. I think there are some pretty good reasons why the master commended the dishonest manager in Jesus’ parable.
First of all, I believe that Jesus likes people of action. Think about the parable of the Good Samaritan. What made this Samaritan good? Did he keep the commandments? Who knows? Did he subscribe to the articles of the orthodox faith? Nope. The fact that he was a Samaritan means that he was outside the mainstream of faith. So, what made him good? He saw a person in need and he helped him. Notice, the priest walked by. You don’t get any holier than that, but what did he do? That’s right -- he kept on walking. A teacher of the law came by -- the pillar of respectability. What did he do? That’s right -- absolutely nothing. But this despised Samaritan saw a man who needed help and he was moved to action. Jesus likes persons of action. He has enough hand-wringers in this world. You know who I’m talking about -- people who look at the world’s problems and say, “Dear me, somebody ought to do something about that.” Well, yes they should. Let me rephrase that -- yes, WE should. There are times that call for immediate action.
For many of us our lives are dominated by fear, fear of what other people will think about us, fear of rejection, fear of making a mistake. So we move through life making ourselves as invisible as possible, doing as little as we can. Not because we are bad -- we are simply afraid. The dishonest steward was afraid, too. He was losing his job. And by his own admission he wasn’t strong enough to dig and he was ashamed to beg. What was he going to do? He hatched himself a plan. He would call in his master’s debtors and discount their debts, thereby making friends for himself that might do him a favor in return when he was out on the streets. Jesus praised him for taking action.
There are some people who won’t even act in their own behalf. Somebody or something outside of themselves has to motivate them to take action. A sailor sent a rather funny story to Reader’s Digest. He wrote that on his first day in the fire room of a Navy destroyer, it was his duty to open a particular valve. Unfortunately, the valve control, the size of a steering wheel, seemed to be stuck. After his best efforts failed to budge it, he reported his difficulty to the chief. The chief told him to keep trying and that he would send “Tiny” to help him. Soon what appeared to be the largest sailor in the Navy loomed over the young sailor. The sailor grinned, thinking that Tiny would solve his problem. But instead of taking the wheel in hand, Tiny merely pointed to it and said, “Open that valve right now!” The young sailor got the valve open. Tiny motivated him to discover strength he did not know he had.
There are some people who will not even get into action to help themselves. They have to have someone else motivate them to do what they know needs doing. Pastor Richard Stetler tells about two men whom he calls Jim and Bob who worked for the same division at AT&T Wireless. Both of these men lost their jobs when AT&T merged with Cingular Wireless in 2005. When the news reached Jim that he was going to be laid off, he grew very bitter. He was 54 and immediately began to lament about company politics, and how he had given his life and soul to AT&T only to be treated with no respect. He grew extremely fearful. “What company would want to hire a person at my age?” Bob, Jim’s colleague, was 56. He, too, was faced with the possibility of losing his job. However, he began thinking of possibilities. He had friends in Human Resources at Verizon and some of the smaller companies. He placed his resume in their hands and carried himself with a hopeful, enthusiastic attitude, believing that this change only represented a blip on his career path. He knew he had a wealth of experience and an institutional memory that his younger counterparts would not have.
“Regardless of what anyone believes,” says Pastor Stetler, “there is a barrier that separates these two men… Jim’s bitterness did not serve him well during subsequent interviews with other companies. His hurt feelings and unhealed spirit would bleed through. The obvious happened. Bob left his position early and is now retired from Verizon and Jim ended up working menial jobs experiencing a gulf he could not cross.”
Some of you have seen this happen to people. Like Jim they are faced with a difficult situation and they become paralyzed with fear and uncertainty. And that usually leads to bitterness and anger. There are some people who, for whatever reason, become defeated and refuse to act in their own behalf.
The amazing thing is how religious some of these people are. I may sound a little cruel here, but we are dealing with a deep spiritual problem. One of the reasons people come to religion is because of fear, fear of the unknown, fear of the future, fear of any number of things. Religion helps people deal with a stressful world. So, when people have a problem they pray … and they pray … and they pray some more. Then they wait … and they wait … and they wait some more. All the while they are being very religious. But the problem is that at the same time they are praying and waiting, God is also waiting -- waiting for them to do something about their own situation. Don’t misunderstand me. God wants us to pray when we are in a difficult situation, but God also wants us to act. Pick up the phone. Enlist the help of a family member or a friend. Learn some new skills. Don’t sit there passively and expect someone else to rescue you.
Jesus says something very interesting at the end of this little parable. “…for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” (8) Jesus understood how the real world operates. He knew that sometimes even scoundrels are successful, not because they are smarter or more talented, but because they are opportunistic. They are not held back by their fears. They are not held back by their doubts. They have learned to be self-reliant and self-motivated. I guarantee you that if you hit a rough patch in the road, and you sit around feeling sorry for yourself, the tempter will move in quickly and work to cause you to quit trying.
Jesus praised the dishonest steward because he did not give in to his fears. He reached out and made friends who would help him when he was out on the street. Jesus obviously would not approve of his methods, but that’s another parable. Here His purpose is to spotlight the dishonest man’s resolve. He was in a predicament and he took action, and Jesus praised him. And that’s what Jesus wants us to do as well. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t sit around feeling sorry for yourself. Pray, yes, in all circumstances, but if there is something you can do for yourself, do it, and God will bless your effort.
There is a delightful story of a man who was shipwrecked on a lonely unknown desert island. To his surprise he found that he was not alone. A large tribe of people shared the island. Amazingly they welcomed him warmly and treated him very well. In fact, they made him their king and catered to his every desire. He was delighted, but puzzled. Why were they treat him in such a royal fashion? As his ability to communicate increased, he learned that they had a tribal custom to choose a king for a year. When the year was over, this king would be transported to a certain island and abandoned. The man’s delight instantly turned into distress. Things were great now, but soon he would be alone on the deserted island. Then he hit on a shrewd plan. He was the king! He could order people to do whatever he wanted. So, over the next several months he sent members of the tribe to clear this other island. He had them build a beautiful home and plant crops.
He then sent some chosen friends to live there and wait for him. And then, when the time of his reign was over, he was sent to a place carefully prepared, full of people delighted to receive him.
It does not say in scripture that God helps those who help themselves.
That saying is usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin. He quoted it in Poor Richard’s Almanac in 1757. The saying is only partially true at best because God helps all those who call upon Him, not just the highly motivated. But God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves. If He constantly worked to solve all our problems for us, we would remain forever emotionally and spiritually immature. Got a problem? Here’s the answer: Pray and work. God likes us to pray, but He also likes a people of action. Pray and work. And don’t attempt one without the other.
Closing Hymn: #395 Take Time to Be Holy
- Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; abide in Him always, and feed on His word.
Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak,
forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek. - Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be; thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see. - Take time to be holy, let Him be thy guide, and run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord, and, looking to Jesus, still trust in His word. - Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul, each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His spirit to fountains of love, thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
Go into your week with the blessings of The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit.