June 29, 2007

FOOLISH OR SHREWD?

Luke 12:13-21, 16:1-15

Have you ever been called a fool? Has anyone ever referred to you as an idiot? Has anybody ever called you “stupid”? If so, how did it make you feel? Not very good, right? Well, think about this. How would you feel if God called you a fool? It is rather a sobering thought, isn’t it? Yet that is exactly what happens in the Scripture in front of us this morning. But God said to him, “You fool!”

The sermon this morning is titled “Foolish or Shrewd?” Once again we are going to look at two different parables because they deal with the same theme. In one of the parables, the main character is called a fool by God himself. In the other, the main character is commended for being “shrewd”. What can we learn from these two characters? What made the difference between the two men? And of the two, which do you and I most closely resemble?

The first parable is found in Luke 12:13-21. In the introduction to the parable, someone came to Jesus and asked him to intervene in a dispute he was having with his brother over a matter of their inheritance. Jesus refuses to get involved or to play the arbitrator in the case, and instead warns the audience against all forms of greed. The root word for greed in this text means literally “to have more.” We could define the problem as always wanting more. As Jesus indicates, it can come in various forms but the root issue is always the same; always wanting more.

So Jesus told them the simple story of a rich man whose fields produced an abundant harvest. His crop (probably wheat or some other form of grain) was so large that his barns could not contain it all. So his solution was to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to store all his surplus. Then he says to himself: You have plenty laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. Yet that very night God said to him: “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”

As we look at that story, I think we can identify at least five errors which this man made.

First, he consulted only himself. We actually see this point emphasized twice. In verse 17 we read, “He thought to himself.” Then in verse 19 it says “I’ll say to myself.” This second one is actually rather amusing in the original text. It literally reads, I will say to my soul, “Soul…” There does not seem to be any consultation with friends or with family. There is certainly no consultation with God. I wonder, what about you and me? When we make decisions about finances and the use of resources, do we consult only ourselves?

Second, he thought only about himself. The pronoun “I” plays the predominant, in fact the only, role in his thinking. This is what I’ll  do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself…”Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry.” There is no indication that his plans or thoughts took into consideration anyone other than himself.

Third, he thought only of this life. There is no specific verse to turn to, but in his thinking and dialog, there is no reference to anything other than this life. Not once in this parable is there any indication that his thoughts or plans took any consideration for the life to come, for eternity, for eternal values. He thought and lived on one dimension only; the horizontal, earthly plane. This is a very foolish approach to life and decision making. I wonder if we are guilty of this same one dimensional planning.

Fourth, he defined quality of life in terms of riches, leisure and pleasure. This is what he had provided for himself. You have plenty…take life easy…eat, drink and be merry!  Is that how you define quality of life?

I remember many years ago, during my first year of college, I had a part time job working on a yard maintenance crew for a large apartment complex. I was working one day with another young man just out of high school, a typical Californian teenager. We were talking as we worked, and I eventually worked up my nerve to try to share the Gospel with him. As I was talking, I remember using the phrase, “Jesus lived a perfect life.” He got a very skeptical look on his face and said, “No he didn’t!” A bit surprised, I said, “Yes he did!” Then he said, in complete seriousness: “What do you mean, ‘Jesus lived a perfect life’? Did he drive a sports car and own a sail boat and have lots of beautiful girl friends?”

I realized at that point that we had a communication problem. But it also struck me how common this thinking is in our world. A perfect life is defined in terms of riches, leisure and pleasure. Is that how you define quality of life? Is that your ultimate goal? To arrive at that place in life where you can quit work and just lay back and enjoy life? If so, welcome to the “rich fools club”.

Fifth, he presumed he would live a long time. This was inherent in his thinking. You have plenty of things laid up for many years…His plan was predicated on a long life. But this presumption was rudely interrupted in the story. This very night your life will be demanded from you. The word used here has the force of “demanding something back” or calling in a loan. This man assumed that his life belonged to him and a long life was his by right. He failed to understand that his life was on loan from God, and it was a loan that could be called at any time. All of these five miscalculations led to a series of wrong decisions and led to God’s clear pronouncement, “You fool!”

Jesus’ concluding words in verse 21 are equally soul-searching. This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.

So, there is the first parable; the parable of the rich fool. In contrast, I want to place next to it the parable of the shrewd steward. This parable is found in Luke 16:1-13. It is a very strange story of a manager who cheated his master, and not only gets away with it, but is actually commended for it. This parable is often identified as the most difficult of all Jesus’ parables to interpret. We read the parable in the Scripture reading, so I will not take the time to narrate it.

What makes this story difficult is the ethics involved. But I would suggest that we not let ourselves get hung up on that. It is very clear that this man was not commended for his ethics. He is openly called a dishonest manager. Jesus also classifies him as belonging to “the people of this world” and not to the “people of the light.” So we are not called to emulate this man’s character or his ethics. Rather, very specifically, we are called to consider his “shrewdness”. The word for “shrewdness” is sometimes translated wisdom. It comes from the root word for the mind. In other words, someone who is using his mind and thinking and weighing things up clearly. In this one area, anyway, he is the opposite of the “fool” in the previous story, who did not think things through.

The question before us, then, is; in what did his shrewdness consist? I think we can discover the answer to this question by analyzing four main points of comparison in the story.

First, what he had was not his. The main character in the story is not the rich man, the master, the land owner. It is the steward or the manager. Verse 1 says: There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. He is an employee hired to manage a business or an estate.

Second, he has control of his master’s possessions for a very limited time. Jesus sets this up with the circumstances of the story 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 manager any longer.’ The story is clear that this man is not being given a warning, or a chance to clear his name. He is being fired on the spot. He is given only one final task. “Bring me your account books.” So he is virtually out of time. He has from that moment until he is expected to produce the account books and/or word gets out to the farmers that he has been sacked. In either case, it is probably only a matter of hours, maybe a day or so if the distances are great.

Third, he analyzed his situation and made a plan. 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 - I know what I’ll do…”  Herein lies the key to his shrewdness. He is thinking. He is assessing his options and situations accurately and he is making plans accordingly.

Fourth, he used his limited time of control to win long-term benefits. This is what he has to come up with: a plan so that when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses. So he goes immediately to work to implement his plan. He calls in each of the master’s debtors. In all probability, they were tenant farmers who had signed contracts to pay a certain amount of their produce to the land owner. When they are called in, each one assumes that the manager still represents the land owner. He uses this authority to alter their contracts in favor of the tenant farmers, lowering their dues considerably. Now think about the situation. These farmers all no doubt go their way celebrating. They think the manager is a good guy for renegotiating for their benefit. They probably even think the land owner is a good guy for agreeing to allow the manager to alter the contracts. Now the land owner’s hands are tied. If he reneges on the new contracts, he looks like the bad guy and faces a general rebellion from his tenant farmers. Whatever he thinks inside, he is forced to smile and go along with the arrangement, meanwhile marveling at how the manager has taken advantage of the situation so cleverly. Remember, he does not commend the manager for his integrity or his ethics, but for his shrewd plan.

So what is the lesson for us? What are we to learn from this odd rascal? Once again, as is clear from the explanation that follows the parable, Jesus is instructing his disciples on their use of worldly wealth. This parable actually is the mirror image of the parable of the rich fool in chapter 12. We see this when we look at the four points of comparison in the story.

First, what we have is not ours. This is the basic, most fundamental realization which must precede any truly Biblical philosophy of wealth and possessions. What we have is not ours. It belongs to God. He entrusts it to us as managers and as stewards. It is not ours. It is his. Do you believe that? Do you accept God’s ownership over all you possess? Do you accept your role as a manager rather than as an owner? Luke 16:12 makes this very clear: And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? God is trying to find out how trustworthy we are in managing his property!

Second, we have control over these possessions for a limited time only. The man in the story knew that the time of his stewardship was ending. This is central to the story. The time was desperately short. This is in stark contrast to the rich fool. His assumption was that he had “many years” to enjoy his wealth. The manager recognized the shortness of the time. And let’s face it, friends, anytime you lay the years of this life against the long stretch of eternity, this life is very, very short.

Third, we need to analyze our situation and make our plans. This is the shrewdness of the man in the parable. It is at this point, I believe, that Jesus makes the comparison in verse 8: For the people of this world are more shrewd …than are the people of the light. Unbelievers are better at working their system than we are at getting the greatest benefit out of ours. This man planned. All too often as believers we fail to plan, to analyze our situation. We just blunder along, not adding up 2 and 2 to get 4. We don’t have a clear view of things. So we don’t plan appropriately. If we did, what would we do?

Fourth, we should use our limited time of control over earthly possessions to win eternal blessings. This lesson is the key to the whole parable. Remember the shrewd manager’s reasoning in verse 4: I know what I’ll do so that when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses. Jesus picks up on that reasoning in his summary in verse 9: I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

How do we do that? How do we make friends for ourselves by using our worldly wealth? By investing in the kingdom of God; by giving to the poor, for by so doing we lend to God; by giving to God’s work in the church; by giving to support missions and evangelistic efforts around the world. By laying up treasure in heaven, and investing our time and money in things that make us rich toward God.

There is a Ray Boltz song that captures the essence of what it means to use our time and resources here to gain friends in heaven.

I dreamed I went to heaven and you were there with me
We walked upon the streets of gold beside the crystal sea.

We heard the angels singing, then someone called your name.
You turned and saw this young man and he was smiling as he came.

And he said, "Friend you may not know me now" and then he said, "But wait"
You used to teach my Sunday School when I was only eight.

And every week you would say a prayer before the class would start.
And one day when you said that prayer I asked Jesus in my heart."

(Chorus)
Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am so glad you gave.

Then another man stood before you and said, "Remember the time
A missionary came to your church and his pictures made you cry.

You didn't have much money but you gave it anyway.
Jesus took the gift you gave and that's why I am here today."

One by one they came, far as the eye could see
Each life somehow touched by your generosity.

Little things that you had done, sacrifices made.
Unnoticed on the earth, in heaven now proclaimed.

And I know up in heaven you're not supposed to cry.
But I am almost sure there were tears in your eyes.

As Jesus took your hand and you stood before the Lord.
He said, "My child look around you, great is your reward."

Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am so glad you gave.

So, foolish or shrewd? What is your choice? Once again, I want to leave you with these stories, to sit in your consciousness, in your heart and mind and keep dripping the truth into your life when it is needed, facing you with the alternatives. Will you be like the rich fool, storing up things for yourself, but not rich toward God? Or will you be like the shrewd manager, carefully investing your resources here to produce an eternal reward?