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Do not weary yourself to gain riches, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. -Proverbs 23:4,5
When goods increase, they increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes? -Ecclesiastes 5:11 NKJV
Nickels, dimes, quarters, dollars; owning a car or boat, house or apartment; eating ‘high on the hog’ or cheese and crackers off a paper plate; somehow they are all connected to the institution we recognize as finance. At times it seems to be a fairly easy thing to understand, yet it can be a cumbersome, elusive web that makes nailing Jell-O to a wall look easy.
Since we cannot ignore the issues of finance in everyday life, we should at least look at a few passages of Scripture that can help us manage our possessions and avoid some very dangerous monetary pitfalls. Take a close look at the following passages:
Proverbs 6:1-11
Proverbs 10:4,5
Proverbs 11:15,28
Proverbs 13:11
Proverbs 14:23,24
Proverbs 16:3
Proverbs 22:4-13,26 29
Proverbs 23:4,5,23
Proverbs 24:3,4,30 34
Proverbs 27:23,24
Proverbs 28:6,8,20,22
Ecclesiastes 5:11
Ecclesiastes 2:10,11
I saved the last reference because it caused me to re examine my own understanding of what has ‘profit’ while I am on this earth. Solomon recognized that this world and our own works do not bring ‘lasting profit’. the real profit for any of us can only be obtained when we allow God to direct our life and lead us in a way that is pleasing to Him.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be wealth to your flesh and strength to your bones. Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats overflow with new wine. -Proverbs 3 5 10
I don’t want you to think that this passage is a guarantee of ‘wealth and fortune’. It is not! It is a challenge to us all to recognize that any ‘lasting profit’ can only come from the hand of God. We are only ‘caretakers’ of what He has given to us. It is also an unparalleled statement as to Who should be in control of our financial planning. (*Trust in the Lord; Acknowledge Him; Fear the Lord; Honor the Lord.)
The above passage also leads us into the subject of proper scriptural priorities. God has to be Number One on our list of priorities if we want a life and family that will be honoring to Him. This is not always an easy thing to do. Many professing Christians don’t even include God and His Word in their financial decision making. This is a huge mistake that has destroyed many families and marriages. However, with God at the top of our priorities and guiding our decisions concerning finances, we can avoid many unwanted troubles.
If God is first on our priority list, who or what should come next? That is a fair question, but it has varying answers. The following list is one I have used for many years, with some variation, and I offer it to you for prayerful and serious consideration.
Scriptural Priority List:
- God, Who He is. He is real and His word is true.
- My personal relationship with God. Getting closer to Him through prayer, meditation, study and practical application of Scriptural concepts.
- Looking for God’s best for my wife and son. Includes spiritual, physical and material needs.
- Occupation / work. Doing what is needed or available in order to provide for the needs of our family, and is honoring to God. (a note here! If your occupation starts ‘creeping up’ on your priority list to the point it becomes more important than your family, you will need to take a serious look at what is causing the problem and get it corrected as soon as possible! This goes for husband and wife. Do not neglect your children. They need you. Not a parental
substitute!)
This is a short list, but it has what I believe are basic scriptural priorities that should be on anyone’s list of priorities, both husband and wife. Yours may vary, but this list may help get you started.
A couple of closing thoughts when you’re dealing with money or ‘whatever’.
As much as possible, never buy something on credit that depreciates in value over time. Such as a used car. You will never be able to resell it at the same price you paid for it with the finance charge.
When your ‘funds’ are low, you should consider if it is a ‘need’ or a ‘want’ before buying. Do you really ‘need! it or is it just something you ‘want’?
Remember! We are stewards of what God has given to us. Use them wisely.
-Dan Conley, 2008
The following sermon was given in the same week Dan was writing the above chapter, and received permission for it to accompany The Pa Letters:
The Unrighteous Steward
A Sermon by Brent Ewing,
Grangeville Idaho Evangelical Free Church
Late fall, 2007
-Luke 16:1-13
All parables/ analogies break down at some point. They are a great way
to teach; often the way the LORD God chose to teach. They make us think
of a reality that our mind can grasp, and then in that moment of
enlightenment, our eyes can be opened to something that we hadn’t seen
before. But if the analogy is carried too far the light begins to fade
and confusion and or error sets in When Jesus said the kingdom of heaven
is like… that’s exactly what He meant. That is, there are some
similarities, some parallels.. The kingdom of heaven is not the same
as…. but it is like…
One of these teaching analogies is recorded.in Luke chapter 16. More
than any other parable that we have recorded in the Bible… this one
caused me more confusion than enlightenment. For years I pretty much
avoided it because it was frustrating to me and led me to some
conclusions that ran contrary to the way I understood God wanted me to
live. I want to think through this parable of the.”Unrighteous
Steward” with. you this morning, but there’s another modern
parable/analogy that. I want to run past you. at the same time. It comes
from Philip Yancy and Paul Brand’s book: “In His Image”
I’ve been reading their first book “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”
and now, I’m half way through “In His Image”. A number of times they
have led me through thought processes that ask the reader to consider
the consequences of rebellious cells in the human body what happens when
any of your cells just decides it doesn’t want to be a ‘team player’
anymore. The story that I’m going to read you is like that. It prompts
thinking about what happens when cells, controlling muscular activity,
decide for some reason to do their own thing and refuse the
organizational control and will of the brain. This is from “In His
Image”:
“The television camera was merciless It never blinked, not when the
teenage girl’s tongue lolled over to the side, not when her eyes
rolled wildly, not when she drooled and sputtered and fought off
gagging on her own saliva. For this science program devoted to
cerebral palsy, the camera recorded every extreme manifestation of the
disease. Another person with cerebral palsy, a young man, entered the
girl’s room, brought there by the television program’s producers. He
had made astonishing progress in his rehabilitation, and he
demonstrated his skills for the bedridden girl. He spelled out words,
one alphabet letter at a time, with wide scraping arcs of his feet, so
fast that an accompanying “interpreter” had trouble keeping up. He
also typed with his toe, using a metal connection to complete a
circuit on the keys. He had even learned to use a machine that
amplified his clicking, glottal speech enough to make it intelligible
to a trained ear.
In contrast, the girl had received no rehabilitation therapy. An Ohio
state agency, unable to care for her medically, had placed her in an
insane asylum. The television program pointed out the stark irony
everything was wrong with this girl except her mind. Behind the wild
expressions, the drooling, and the catalepsy was a beautiful and
intelligent mind, imprisoned.
Workers at the hospital had drawn a large chart divided into eighty
squares of key phrases such as “I want” or “I need”. The girl
communicated by looking at a square with the appropriate phrase,
whenever she could make her eyes hold steady long enough. Someone
asked her if she had any questions for her “Progressive” cerebral
palsy visitor. She twitched and shook, and her eyes darted and weaved
and danced. A volunteer watched her eyes carefully for telltale clues.
It took about five minutes for the girl to look at three squares
coherently enough to ask a question. ‘Were… you… angry?’
For anyone who watched that television program, the lesson would last
forever. “A mind is not enough. To express itself and to communicate
with others the mind needs a cooperative body.”
Hang on to the picture of this story, and think a bit on the emotions
behind the question, “Were… you… angry? As soon as I read this
story, I thought of Jesus’ parable in Luke chapter 16. I hope you
already have a Bible open, and have Luke 16 in front of you. Jesus
started telling the crowd a story… A certain man was rich; and he had
a steward, and this one was accused to him as squandering his goods. And
calling him, he said to him, What is this I hear about you? Give the
account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward. And the
steward said to himself, What will I do, for my master is taking away
the stewardship from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed
to beg. I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the
stewardship, they will receive me into their homes. And he summoned each
one of his master’s debtors, and he said to the first, Flow much do you
owe my master? And he said, 850 gallons of oil. And he said to him, take
your statements and sitting quickly write 425. ‘Then he said to another,
And how much do you owe? And he said, eleven hundred bushels of wheat.
And he said to him, take your statement and write 960.
And the master praised the unrighteous steward, because he acted
prudently. For the sons of this age are more prudent than the sons of
light themselves are in their generation. I now if your thinking
resembles mine, your thinking… “What? The guy was a self centered,
self serving cheat. I hate cheating… it’s hard for me to not hate
cheaters… what in the world is Jesus promoting here?”
But I think I carried Jesus’ analogy somewhere it didn’t belong… that
I took it to a place beyond the point where the analogy broke down.
Let’s finish His story… verse 9.
“And say to you, Make friends for yourself by the use of unrighteous
mammon, that when it fails they may take you into the eternal
dwellings.” We need to pause for a moment on the concept of “Mammon”
In that civilization, money didn’t have an exact parallel with money
today. Jesus spoke primarily, to an agricultural people; who might have
been relatively wealthy, but at the same time might not have had two
shekels to rub together. They had land, livestock, produce, equipment
etc. but maybe not money. And the word Jesus used here, reaches even
further back in time, to an even more money less time. I think, our
thinking would prophet from our considering “Mammon” to be synonymous
with resources, just physical, earthly, resources. It’s because of this
difference between “money” and “resources” that I didn’t find a
single English translation that said “Money”.
Jesus isn’t specifically targeting our money, but our resources… a
much wider category that includes our money, and might even include our
sense of humor. Verse 10…
“He who is faithful in the least is also faithful in much. And he who
is unrighteous in the least is also unrighteous in much. Then if you are
not faithful in the unrighteous mammon, (Earthly resources… resources
of this sin corrupted, sin sick world) who will entrust the true to you?
And if you were not faithful in that of another, who will give to you
that which is yours? No servant is able to serve two masters; for either
he will hate the one, and he will love the other; or he will cling to
one, and he will despise the other. You are unable to serve God and
mammon.”
The Scripture reading from Luke chapter 18 should put us in the right
frame of mind to admit that when Jesus talked about the unrighteous
steward, He pegged us right where we are, today. We are the unrighteous
steward. As believers, we understand the master in the story to be our
LORD and Master, Jesus the Messiah.
All we are, and all we possess, belongs to the Master. We’re living
under an illusion if we think we’re more than stewards of God’s stuff.
Furthermore, we live in a world where we’re surrounded by people who are
way over their heads in debt to our Master. And Jesus, our Master, wants
you and me to use our worldly resources to make it easier for people to
be reconciled to the Master.
Our Master likes that… canceling people’s debts… granting them
undeserved favors, us granting them undeserved favors. You know as well
as I do, that the LORD Jesus would be tickled, thrilled, to have every
debtor’s debts canceled, and reconciled. He told us that He wasn’t
willing for anyone to perish… and the Master wants us to use whatever
position and or resources at our disposal to make it easier for sinners
(like us) to be reconciled to Him.
Are we doing that? Actually, I have two questions running through my
mind. The first is… Are we doing that? The second has to do with
cerebral palsy. Where the body has rebelled against the mind, and
refused to do what the mind tells the body it ought to do.
The Mind tells all of us cells in His body that we ought to use whatever
resources He’s entrusted to US, to make it easier for people to be
reconciled to Him. (God’s debt canceling agents) The girl in the story
had a body that refused (to a great degree) to corporate with her mind,
thus the agonizing question of her mind “Were… you… angry?”
I don’t want to make more of an analogy than I should, but these
reflections do cause me to think I don’t want to be a rebellious cell in
God’s body. I don’t think you want to be either. So… let’s be busy,
using whatever resources that the Master has entrusted to our
stewardship… to make it easier for debtors to be reconciled to our
Master… His secret, and not so secret agents of grace.