Generosity - Generous with our treasures 

Over the last three weeks, the Dover Town Benefice Churches have been thinking about generosity. In this last reflection of the series, Team Vicar, Reverend Claire Coleman looks at generosity with our treasures and thinks on the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 16, verses 1 - 13.

We’re finishing our series today focusing on the generosity of our time, talent, and treasures. And today, we are honing in on one of the most practical—and sometimes uncomfortable topics: our treasures, or, in real terms, our money.

We’re looking at one of Jesus' most challenging and sometimes confusing parables, the Parable of the Unjust Steward found in Luke 16:1–13. It might be familiar to some of us - it has come up in the past year in our lectionary readings. 

Although challenging, the summary of what we’ll uncover today is simple, but profound:

Every pound in your pocket comes from God. 

As we've hopefully shared throughout this series, all we have is a gift from God. 

Our money is one of those gifts.

Whether we have a lot or a little, God expects us to generously invest what we have for eternal good.

Why is this so important? Because how we spend our money shows us where our hearts are at with God.  Jesus said it clearly in Matthew 6:21:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

Our spending habits reveal our true priorities.

Oswald Chambers speaks to this when he writes about Matthew 6:33 in his book My Utmost for Your Highest. He writes:

Immediately we look at these words of Jesus, we find them the most revolutionary statement human ears ever listened to. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” 

We argue in exactly the opposite way, even the most spiritually-minded of us—we might have uttered these words: "But I must live; I must make so much money; I must be clothed; I must be fed." These statements reflect a great concern of our lives in the here and now. 

Jesus reverses the order: Get rightly related to God first, maintain that as the great concern and priority of your life, and never put the concern of your care on the other things.

Jesus calls us to put the Kingdom first, and our finances are a key part of that devotion. It’s almost like if we get that right, and give that to him first, the rest will follow. 

Our parable today doesn't teach us that it’s right or good to cheat people out of money. It also doesn’t mean that money itself is evil.

1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” 

The love of money, not money itself, is the problem. Money is a morally neutral tool. But it’s what we do with it and how we feel about it that carries morals with it. 

Imagine a large landowner who hired a manager (or steward) to manage the land for him. The manager would handle all the landowner's affairs.

Rent was often calculated in-kind (for example they would give 100 measures of oil or 80 measures of wheat instead of cash). It was typical for managers to add their own commission to the rent and that counted as
his salary.

The manager in the parable was facing termination for squandering the landowner’s property. To secure his future, he quickly reduced the debts for the landowner’s tenants. The manager essentially cut his own excessive commission out of the debt, showing kindness to the tenants so they would welcome him into their homes when he lost his job. He used the resources he had, for a limited time, to secure his future.

The brilliance of Jesus’s teaching is how he pivots from the dishonest steward's worldly wisdom to a lesson on eternal wisdom.

The Bible clearly teaches that God has authority over everything. 

Stewardship begins when we realise all God has made, all that we own, and all that we are, are his. The landowner owned all the land. In the end, everything is his, though he gives the manager responsibility over it. 

This is a perfect picture of what God does, entrusting things to us. This includes our money. God gave us the ability to earn our money.  Money is a tool we are given to use for God’s purposes. The landowner entrusted the land to the manager.  Similarly, after God created the earth, he made man its manager.

God has entrusted us with all we have: our time, talent, and treasures.

This is the main point of the parable: Jesus is telling the disciples that they need to use what he has given them for kingdom purposes - things that last.

The question really is: Will we use what we have for things that have eternal value? Our financial resources are a gift from God. 

A prayer often said when the offering is received takes these words of David (1 Chronicles 29:14–16):

“For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.” 

Generosity comes when we realise we’ve been entrusted with the Lord’s resources and we’re to use them for purposes. The wisest, most significant thing we can do with our resources is generously pour them into causes that will outlast us. 

We have a limited time to make a kingdom-sized difference in this world through our generosity. The time to be generous isn’t tomorrow. It’s today.

Think of the powerful illustration from the movie Schindler’s List. In the final scene, businessman Oscar Schindler, who saved over 1,100 people from death during the Holocaust, is haunted by how many more people he could have saved if he would have spent his money differently. 

His anguish wasn't over his lost wealth, but his lost opportunity to save another life. The manager in this parable prepared for his end. He made friends that could take care of him when he no longer had a job. 

Jesus ends the parable with a powerful statement (Luke 16:13):

“No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.”

Our choice today is simple: God or money?

Is our dependence on the money we have or on our God who gives us our money? Do we need to consider how we share our finances with God? How will we share what we have with Him?

Are we using what God has given us wisely and generously? Do we spend £5 on a treat of a coffee and cake (which God wouldn’t begrudge us) and yet give God only £1?

The challenge today is to have a look at our hearts - to think about what can often be uncomfortable - the use of our money. No-one can tell us how we should be using it, that is between us as individuals and God. But maybe at the start of this new year it’s good to review, to think and to pray. 

Let’s spend time as this new year has begun to think about how we might be using our time, our talents and our treasures for God’s glory. 

Let’s be shrewd. Let’s be generous. Let’s be faithful.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.