Life’s not Fair
Could that Be OK?

Luke 16:1-9

 † I.H.S †

May God’s gifts of love and mercy so fill your life,  that you are assured you will live tomorrow and forever in His incredible, unsurpassable, unexplainable peace!

 Life’s Not Fair!

That gospel reading this morning was strange, wasn’t it!

So strange most pastors don’t ever want to preach on it, but in a world that doesn’t always make sense, heck this world rarely makes sense.  So this passage seems appropriate.

I mean I don’t understand why this guy is talked about positively in Scripture.

He doesn’t do his job.

When he does, he does it unethically, not doing what he’s given authority to accomplish, but what works in his favor.

Then, as he’s given notice to clean out his desk, what does he do?  He uses the authority he’s been given to create a bunch of favors people will owe him – favors he will cash in on so that he isn’t bankrupt!

And here is what is strange, according to scripture, his boss, the owner of the company admires him!  Other translations say he praises him – and the words are synonymous.

This just doesn’t make sense.  It isn’t fair, so how in the world could the Bible teach that the dishonest rascal was admired?

I mean it’s not far, how could it be okay?
Admiration and Praise?

I think we need to hear again why the rich man admired the rascal.  After being told to get his things in order, and that he was being terminated, the rascal said,

⁴ Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’

Jesus would go on to say

And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. ⁹ Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

While neither praising the ethics or actions of the dishonest man, Jesus notes that he is thinking more than about the present moment.  That his concern is for the time when he is not able to care for himself, for a time after he is judged, and found to fail, to fail because of actions he took.

Most of us don’t plan for five years from now, never mind 25 years from now or eternity.  We don’t use our knowledge, what we’ve been entrusted with, what we’ve been given the future, never mind what is waiting for us eternally.  We don’t often think about this given our lives, and we need to consider it about our lives, and those of these children we have been blessed with!

If we did, how would we live?  What would change in our lives, in how we treat people?  What priorities would change in your life, if you were thinking of judgment and eternal life? What would we want for our children?

How do we live life, thinking of eternity?

It starts there – with using your possessions to benefit others, To invest your time and strength in making friends and caring for them.

Not unethically, but realizing people are more than possessions. That relationships matter more than accomplishments, more than personal wealth, more than a secure retirement.  T love and care for them, as you would want them to love and care for you!

And there is one relationship that demonstrates this, there is one where the relationships were so important, the future so important that one man died, to completely forgive the debts own to his Father.

Get that settled!

Jesus wasn’t just given notice, nor was he told that he was not doing His job well.  Still, He knew He was about to be terminated with prejudiced. And as He had planned, along with the Father, He used his legitimate authority to make himself friends.

He wasn’t unethical, He wasn’t using His authority to benefit himself, He simply loved others, and by His death turned those that didn’t love Him, who abandoned Him, who cried out for Him to be crucified.

He was thinking of eternity, of life after all is terminated.

Not His life,

Yours.

And so He died on the cross, to make true these words,

¹⁵  I shall no longer call you servants because a servant does not know the master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.
John 15:15 (NJB)

This is why we are here – as a church, as a school, all the ministries that are Concordia. TO make the love of God know, to encourage you to search out the height, the depth, the breadth and the width of God’s love for you.

We find that out in our baptism, and in the Lord’s Supper, as we take and eat His body and drink His blood.  As we hear, children sing of His love.

His love, for us.

As we know it, peace comes over us; that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  AMEN!