A Life On Loan
Sorry, we had a minor emergency in the middle of the service, sorry for the pauses.
Readings: 16:00
Sermon: 32:15
Readings: Luke 16:1-13, Luke 16:19-31, Psalm 37:12-16, 21-29
Do you realize that everything you are and have right now is on loan to you? We might pretend that we own these houses or these bank accounts or this stuff or even our lives, but one day they will be taken from us and given to another, no matter how much we protect them, control them or hold on. In many ways, we are like that manager, and God that rich man. We have been entrusted with managing what we have been given. We have been entrusted to manage this stuff and life in such a way that it benefits the land, its people, and most importantly its master.
If we simply come to this realization. If we really come to terms with the fact that our lives and this stuff will end, will be taken away from us, it would greatly change how we lived and used this stuff. The manager realized his life as he knew it was ending, he realized that he would no longer have control over this wealth, so what does he do? He uses it to prepare for himself his next life. He cares for others so that they will care for him. This is a very shrewd decision and thinking, smart, even if still dishonest.
Our culture usually protects the average person from seeing death, dying, and even poverty by creating a distance or limiting it to certain places. I have seen how many people are almost shocked by the reality and consequences of death. And I don’t just mean the awful and unfair reality of it, but I mean its sheer existence. People too often don’t know how to mourn, or what to think, or suddenly are challenged by huge questions, because they have never had to encounter death. The same thing is true with poverty. Very few people believe it will happen to them, until it does. But we have seen through inflation, pandemics, rising interest rates and recessions how fickle money and success can be.
I would encourage you to sit with someone who is dying or someone that is low on their luck, hear their story and experience with them that moment. It will change your perspective of such things. It has for me. There are too many stories. I remember sitting with a man on Spadina and hearing about his good upbringing and family, but now how every workplace distrusted him, misused him, or disrespected him when they found out he lived on the street. I remember standing with a family over the body of their wife and mother after her heart stopped. I remember how they combed her hair, touched her hand and face, surprised by the warmth, expecting her to get up at any moment. Life, money, and success can be taken away from us at any moment. It is more like a loan that shows the banks how we can be trusted for the time to come.
The interesting thing in this story, is that once the dishonest manager learns this he doesn’t act more righteously, but even in his dishonesty he cares for others. Even more interesting is that the master commends him for it. This is not because dishonesty is good, or cheating people is good, but because of who the master is. Most people in this world would not commend their managers for forgiving debt. This master however is different. The debt and stuff are not the most important thing to the master, it is the relationships that are. This manager may be making friends for himself, but don’t you realize that he is also making friends for the master as well? How might these debtors feel about the owner and their debt and their lives? They would probably be very thankful to the master, they would probably feel better about their debt and their ability to pay it off, and they would probably feel better about their prospects for their life and future. There is a lot to commend even if it was a very dishonest act. Notice though that the manager still doesn’t stay the manager though. The commendation is an acknowledgment not a condoning. That’s important.
On a side note: this story also points to a strange kind of way in which relationships and friendships might help us in eternity. This is a very interesting idea, but one I need to do a lot more reading on.
So, if all of this is on loan to us, how are we using it to prepare for the life to come? How are we making friends with it? How are we taking care of it, the people around us and our master? This is how we show ourselves to be trustworthy. If this stuff fickle, lacking loan is so great, only imagine was true riches might be, what property of our own might mean. That is the great promise of serving under an even greater master.
The story of the rich man and Lazarus relates to this same idea, but in a different context. This time the rich man, who is treated like royalty, doesn’t realize that he is just a manager, so we see him, even after he dies believing that he deserves everything and more. Notice, that after he dies, he is still asking for Lazarus to serve him and his brothers. This shows his privilege, his bad self-image, and his lack of understanding of God’s care for all. The life he lived was defined by luxury and so he believes that is who he is.
The rich man never really saw Lazarus enough to give him what he threw out, let alone treat him as a human being deserving of equal honor and love. The dogs were willing to treat Lazarus better than the rich man, by bringing at least a little comfort to his wounds. How often do animals put our love to shame, when we should be teaching them love? Layla has definitely taught me. Whether it is her persistence, when another dog rejects her, her desire to connect and play with every person and dog, or her simple desire to just be present when it means nothing else.
On the other side, all we know about Lazarus is that he lived a life of pain, struggle, and longing. The result is care from angels and closeness with Abraham. On the surface level, there is a strong corollary of justice. God gives greatly to those who had not been given much in this life and the inverse. This should challenge our ideas of living in luxury, but it should especially challenge how we use what we have been given.
All we have and our life itself is a gift from God for our comfort, but even more so, it is a gift from God for the care of his people, his world, and for him. We can lose ourselves in this stuff and status and enjoyment, but then we just lose ourselves. The way we live this life is either preparing ourselves for heaven or hell. Through the life the rich man lived he actually prepared himself for hell, how was he going to receive God as his master or Lazarus as a friend, when he believe he deserved everything? How was he going to stand before the fiery presence of God, when his metal had never been refined? How was he ever going to serve, live and care for the riches of God, when he had only ever wasted earthly wealth and life?
We all need to realize that this life and everything in it is just being borrowed from God. Do you realize that this life and stuff are fickle and short. How are we showing ourselves to be trustworthy with it, so that God might trust us with more? How are we managing it in such a way that we take care of it, others, and our master? In so many ways, what we do now is preparing us for the time to come. So let us prepare ourselves with longing, service, and love - so that we might look forward to something that is far greater filled with the great love of our master.
Bible Study
Readings: Luke 16:1-13, Luke 16:19-31, Psalm 37:12-16, 21-29
Luke 16:1-13
Vs. 1 Sometimes Jesus talks to the crowds and sometimes the disciples, why might this distinction be important? Do you think Jesus would talk differently/share differently with two different groups? Why? What happens when the Pharisees hear it in vs. 14?
Why was an accusation like this a big deal, both for the accuser and the accused?
Why was it important that this was brought forward to the owner?
2 Do you think the manager was guilty? Why do you think the manager reacted in this way?
3 Do you ever feel this way in terms of your capacity or willingness? What would you be too ashamed to do?
4 What is the manager’s plan? How does this, in a worldly sense, help us to understand the good of fickle wealth?
5-7 How do you think the debtors would have responded to this forgiveness? How would they feel about the manager? How would they have felt about the rich man? How would they have felt about their debt? How would they have felt about their future?
Do you think there is a reason for the difference in forgiveness between the wheat and the oil?
8 Why was this a commendable version of dishonesty?
Was the master commending the servant over the children of light? How can shrewdness with worldly wealth be both a good thing and a bad thing?
9 What difference can friends make? What does this say about shared salvation? Can you think of any other stories that relate to this idea?
How does this story relate to the fickleness of our own lives, job, and money?
How does a vision for the end, make us wiser about our time right now? What does it change for the manager?
10-12 Do you think the manager will be trusted with very much?
How does what we do with what we currently have, relate to what will be waiting for us in the time to come?
What do you think the true riches are?
How does this life and stuff not really belong to us? How are we more like managers? What would it mean for something to truly belong to us?
13 Why can we not serve two masters? Have you ever experienced this in your own life?
How is difficult to juggle priorities? How can it help our use of money or anything, when we make God our master and priority?
Luke 16:19-31
19-21 What are the differences between these two men? What defined both of their lives in this telling?
Why is the name Lazarus used? Do you think this relates at all to Jesus’ friend Lazarus who was raised from the dead?
What does this detail about the dogs tell us? How does it relate to the rich man’s actions?
22-23 What is the difference after their death between the two men? Why do you think this is the case? Do you think there is more than what is said in Vs. 25?
What do you think Abraham’s side or bosom means?
Hades is a Greek image for hell, which differs in some ways with the waste, death and sacrificial pit of the Hebrew image. How do the two relate?
Do you think the rich man's torment is simply a punishment? Could there be more reason for it? How might this be a natural consequence? How could his life and practice be preparing him for an inability to experience and enjoy the reality of heaven or stand in the fire of God?
How does wealth and longing relate to the afterlife in this story? Is there more to it than this?
24 What does the rich man’s request tell us about his belief about himself and Lazarus?
Fire can be both a good and a bad thing. How does our relationship to it change that reality? What does this tell us about the fire of God’s presence as depicted in the Exodus and more?
25 Again, is this the whole story? Why might Abraham be simplifying the story for the rich man? How does this relate to what the rich man cares about?
26 What do you think this great chasm is? What might be standing in the way of them truly coming to one another in the time to come?
How did Jesus bridge many great chasms? What hope does this offer for everything?
27-31 What is the rich man’s wish? Does he care about more than wealth? Why is this still not enough?
What did Moses and the Prophets do to help people believe? Why should this be enough?
Why would people still not believe even after someone was raised from the dead? Why wouldn’t they believe Lazarus?
What is Abraham’s statement foreshadowing?
