Am I Trustworthy?(2)

Trusting God in Tough Times

Luke 16:1-13

We are talking about being trustworthy. Are we trustworthy?

There was this elderly woman who had a strong faith in God. Once as she was worshiping in her church she suddenly fainted and hit her head to the end of the pew. She was unconscious. The congregation called the ambulance and she was strapped on a stretcher. As soon as she started gaining consciousness, she asked her daughter to approach her. She told her to take her purse, open it, and leave the offering in the church plate.

What a story! Till the last moment she wanted to be trustworthy in whatever God entrusted her with to be used for His glory.

In the Armenian sermon, we said

1. God is our boss. We are the managers. We are accountable to God. (vs1)

2. If I am not Trustworthy, God will find someone else. (vs2)

In other words, if you are not trustworthy, you are fired. We read in verse 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 a manager any longer.'”

Please do not be offended if your company fired you lately. Many people are losing their jobs because of the financial crisis we all are going through. That is not related with your management quality.

The parable is clear that when God entrust us with a work, we are responsible to do it; otherwise we will be fired.

You know, you can think that you have a responsibility and you are not fired. The problem is, some of us were fired long time ago, but we did not realize it!

-In the parable of talents, the servant who had five, invested them and made five more. The one who had three made three more, but the one who had only one did not invest it, did not use it, kept it safe under the ground. That steward was fired.

Prophet Malachi said it to his people when they were compromising with God:

"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
      "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
      "In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. (Mal 3:8-10)

In other words, “Oh Israel, you did not manage well whatever was given to you. Your mismanagement also means stealing from me. Watch out!”

3. Invest in people (Vs 3-7)

“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— 4I 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^[a] 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^[b] of wheat,' he replied.
      "He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.

One of the reasons Jesus commended this shrewd manager was that he tried to fix the problem, and also took action to make friends. Now his intention could be wrong; I am not going to talk about that. But he realized that in the end he better have friends than his job and money.

You know we forget this so often.

In CACC we want to encourage programs that invest in people. Our youth, our Sunday school, Bible studies groups, lectures, VBS, even our banquets and food festivals are aimed to build us up and reach out to other people.

Jesus was always interested in people rather than rituals and regulations. He had compassion for people. His message is a message of salvation.

-This parable comes between two other parables: the parable of the Lost Son, the prodigal son (before) and the parable of Rich man and Lazarus (after). The message is clear: invest in people, take care of people.

4. Today’s decision has an impact for tomorrow. (Vs 10-12)

“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. ¹¹So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹²And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?”

You see today’s economic crisis did not start overnight. We inherited accumulated mismanagement. The same is with our lives with our Lord. To be faithful stewards is extremely important not only for us today, but for the coming generations.

-Lately I am studying the book of Samuel. Priest Eli did not “manage” according to God’s will, he lost it. His sons were part of the problem. The family members who should have carried on the “message” lost their chance.

-On the other hand, Samuel, the faithful prophet of God walked with Lord, got the message and continued to be the Lord’s voice.

-Later King Saul wanted to manage his kingdom without God. He lost it.

-Yet the young boy David, walked faithfully with the Lord, became the new King and was right man to manage whatever God gave him.

Proverbs 17:16 summarizes it:

“Of what use is money in the hand of a fool,
since he has no desire to get wisdom?”

5. We need to choose whom we will serve (Vs 13)

¹³"No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money."

We cannot serve two masters.

Joshua was very clear to his people: “Choose whom you will serve”?

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."” (Josh 24:15)

I like to show you a picture. It is of something that we use every day.

It is the dollar bill. Why do we see on the back the writing, “In God we trust”.

Historically there are different reasons why this statement was written there. I will not elaborate on that.

-(The fourth verse of the Star-Spangled Banner the US National Anthem…

“Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'”)

-(An alternative origin could be through John Milton Hay who was Abraham Lincoln's personal secretary. Hay was a graduate of Brown University whose motto, In Deo Speramus, is Latin for "In God We Hope".)

Here is my interpretation: “Lord, we cannot trust the dollar bill, but we can trust in YOU.”

Indeed, we cannot trust the economic systems that can collapse. We cannot trust any material thing that can vanished. But we can trust in God who is the Provider of everything.

This does not mean we will not work or get paid. This does not mean we will not use dollar bills for daily life. No, this means we choose to serve God and everything belongs to Him. He is the boss and I am the manager. I need to be careful how I manage whatever is entrusted to me.

-John Wesley learned to live trusting God. He used to make 30 English pounds. He lived by 28 and gave 2 to others. Then he made 60 pounds he lived by 28 and gave away 32 to others. Then he made 120 pounds he lived by 30 and gave the rest to the poor. Once he said, “What should rise is not Christian’s standard of living but the standard of giving.”

Amen.