Real Realism

        I’ve noticed a storytelling device become more and more popular lately.  I’m also not sure what its official name is, so I’ll refer to it as “fake realism.”

       Remember The Blair Witch Project? Part of what made that movie scary is that the marketing and presentation of the film claimed the story was true and the shaky camera footage was real. They weren’t but the impact was undeniable.  Fake realism pulled the audience into the story.

       It might shock you to know that a lot of  T.V. wrestling is fake.  Even reality T.V. can be faked.  Moses Pulei told me that about half of footage was stolen for Survivor Kenya.  Many many, many scenes were recreated.  It was presented as all true but it wasn’t.

       Fake realism can be effective.  But if the curtain gets pulled back, like The Wizard of Oz, people will not believe even the true things that have been said because the true things were framed in a deception.

       A pastor will take a story about cute child from some “1,001 Preaching Stories” website. But the pastor will claim that it was their own daughter or nephew who said that funny and wonderfully insightful thing about Jesus or heaven.  The listeners who just got the same story forwarded to them on the internet might just wonder what else the preacher in lying about. 

        So no fake realism today.  I really need you to believe me. Today we are talking about reality.  In Luke 16 Jesus tells us a parable in which He calls us to total realism – especially in how we use our money.  This shouldn’t be too surprising.  Jesus says more about money that He says about stuff like heaven or prayer.  Jesus knows that if we can just get our heads straight in this one key area, a lot of other things will fall much more easily into line.  Listen to what Jesus says:

Read Luke 16:1-13

        Communicating reality about money is actually pretty easy in this congregation.  I don't have to protect anyone here from financial reality. That's a good thing because there's some reality we need to face as a church.

       Fact 1. Our church is basically healthy. Many of the problems we face as a church are problems that come from moving forward. We have real high quality problems. Together, we are accomplishing something good for the Kingdom.

       Fact 2. We are maturing in our stewardship.  Seven years ago our average giving per member was about 40% less than comparable Presbyterian Churches in this area.  Since then we have almost closed that gap.  That has allowed us to build our new buildings and our program at the same time. 

       Fact 3.  We have accomplished a great deal together.  With the completion of the buildings we are in a place to even more effectively serve people and touch lives.   Sure the buildings still need to be paid for.  We need to keep giving to the building fund.  But as the years go by, that will be an increasingly small percentage of our total budget.  We’re done building buildings.  More will go to people and programs. 

       Fact 4.  Our national economy is a mess.  There is a lot of uncertainty.

       Fact 5.  Our church budgets have been very tight in 2008 and our reserves are drained.  We also have a lot of needs in 2009.  You heard about some of these last Sunday and in the letters.  We are looking at a   fifteen percent increase in our operating budget while maintaining our present level of giving to the building fund – a ten percent increase overall.

       Fact 6.  We are actually looking for the congregation to give less as a whole in 2009 than you gave in 2007 and 2008.  Don’t misunderstand.  We still need to keep our giving to the building fund at the current level and increase our giving to the operating budget.  But the last two years you gave some major money to close the gap in the building budget and we don’t need those extra gifts in 2009. But we are looking for the congregation to increase its regular giving to the operating fund by fifteen percent or $90,000 in 2009. 

       $90,000 is certainly a lot less than the extra $120,000 given for the building in 2007 and the extra $150,000 given in 2008.  But it’s still money and money comes hard while all of our costs keep going up.  With the events in the economy – the housing market and the meltdown on Wall Street -- that may seem hard. For our family the needed increase to our present tithe would be about $72 a month. We can do that.  But not everyone can.  Others, quite frankly, aren’t anywhere close to tithing and can do much more.

       Those are the facts.    

       But if I'm realistic, at least have a biblical counterpart. Jesus tells a parable of another man who is realistic – a thief but a realistic thief..

       Jesus' parable is about dirty dealings.  A steward -- the financial manager -- has followed a career of embezzlement. His fraud is finally discovered and he is called to account for what he has done with the master's money.

       Jesus gives us his realistic evaluation of his danger: "What shall I do, since my master is taking away the stewardship from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg."

       He makes a plan so that he will be welcomed into the homes of his master's creditors. He calls them in one by one and invites them to change the records of what they owe his master -- reducing a hundred measure of oil debt to fifty and a hundred measures of wheat to eighty.

       We can understand what Jesus pictures here in terms of first century business practice. The Jewish law forbade Jews from collecting interest from fellow Jews when they lent them money. Of course, this gets in the way of business. So the rule is avoided by stating a debt not in money but in terms of wheat or oil. An IOU is written that reflects the value of the original debt plus an additional amount -- say a twenty-five or fifty percent mark-up. This way there is no written indication that interest is being charged. It's all carried as part of the original debt.

       But of course game playing with the law is no way for a pious Jew to behave. So such transactions are carried out by stewards without the master's "formal" knowledge. There is no "paper trail" to lead to the boss. Plausible deniability is preserved.

       Understood this way, the parable presents us with a steward faced with sudden loss of employment who allows his master's creditors to rewrite their IOUs so they no longer carry interest. Then, they will welcome him into their homes and employ him after he is fired -- either because they are grateful or, perhaps, because the steward is now in a position to exercise a little judicious blackmail.

       The master returns and catches the dishonest manager in the act. This is the climax of the story and you can see how the disciples are all set for some word of judgment. The master catches the steward cheating him for a second time and now he's really going to lower the boom. This is going to be a parable of what happens to you when you cheat. And then Jesus looks at His disciples -- I suspect with a twinkle in His eye and a smile on his face -- and says: "then the master returned and saw what the manager had done he said: "I want to congratulate you on how clever and far-sighted you are."

       What else can the master do? He can't publicly object or he will be admitting that he knew about the unlawful contracts. So, as a pious man who cares deeply about the law, he publicly commends his steward for canceling those horrible IOUs. The steward is finally conforming to the law of God and the master is seen as applauding his obedience.

       Everyone in the parable is a crook. But what is shocking is that Jesus seems to agree with the Master's assessment of the Steward's wisdom. Everyone looks kind of puzzled and Jesus says to them: "You know, I wish you were as serious about your faith as these crooks were about their crookedness."

       Then, to underscore His point, Jesus says: "My advice to you is to use your money, tainted as it is, to make friends for yourself for My sake so that when the end comes for you, your friends may welcome you into the eternal dwellings."    

       We'll return to this hard verse a little later.  It’s key.

       What is Jesus saying to us about our Christian lives? What does this dishonest steward, of all people, have to teach us?

       Well, first, he is a person of action. As soon as he learns that he's going to be handed his pink slip he asks: "What shall I do?" He sees a problem and he heads into it. He acts! He doesn't just react.

       Second, he is a fact facer. He realistically confronts his situation. "I am too out of shape to work and I am too proud to start begging."

       Jesus says that we need to see our issues and options clearly.

       The steward might have tried to wish away his problem or forget it in meaningless activity or an alcoholic haze. But he does neither. He knows that it is time to plan his future as best he can.

       If Jesus were spelling out the lessons of this parable He might say at this point: "It would be good if all people could see the issues of life as this guy. You are all stewards of what God has entrusted to you. One day you must give an accounting. Think how it will stand with you in that day and prepare for it. People prepare themselves for all kinds of things -- the majority of which never happen. But they do not care enough for their souls to insure themselves against the one thing that most certainly will happen. They must meet God, and give an accounting.

       Jesus’ point in this disturbing parable is that we need to put first things first. We can't have it both ways. That’s what Jesus says in verse 13 -- a verse usually pulled our for stewardship sermon -- like today: "No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will hold fast to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

       Now Jesus doesn't say there is anything wrong with being thrifty. But He does say the kingdom of heaven isn't reserved for the cautious. He says: "the person who loses his life is the one who will save it." Face the fact that a person is no fool to spend what he or she can't keep to gain that which he or she can never lose.

       George Buttrick said of the steward: "This rogue acted with foresight. He bought friends with money."

       Of course Jesus is not suggesting that we get our friends involved in some crooked deal so we can blackmail them into helping us. But He does say, as we return to verse 9: "Make friends for yourselves by means of your tainted money so that when it fails, your friends may receive you into the eternal dwellings."

       We can't take it with us. Hearses don’t pull u-hauls. But in this parable Jesus suggests that in some special way we can send it on ahead. The imagery of verse 9 suggests a time when we will each stand before God stripped of all we possess. There will be no bank books, no properties, no securities, no university degrees, no titles, no marks of honor. And as we stand before our God, He will say in the imagery of this verse, "is there anyone here who will speak for this person?"

       And Jesus suggests that if we have spent what is ours in the service of our brothers and sisters in Christ and those we are seeking to bring to Christ, they will come and welcome us into the eternal dwellings.

       A boy will come forward and say: "My parents never would have brought me to church. I would have never found Jesus if it was up to them. But a youth ministry this man supported reached me for Christ's sake and my life was changed."

       A baby who died in a mission hospital overseas, but who was tended and much loved in her last hours will say: "this woman loved enough that though she never saw me, she spent what was hers so that I might be blessed."

       An minister who looks a lot like me – but younger -- will say: "Because this woman gave so faithfully, I was enabled to devote my life to the preaching of the gospel."

       A middle aged man will say: "my life was changed because one day I stepped into a church building this girl helped build. She moved from the community before it was completed. She never knew me. But her gift helped change my life and heal my family."

       Or it might look like this!  These people are also testimonies to our stewardship.

Cardboard Testimonies

       So once there was a crooked steward who did some crooked things to fool his crooked boss. Jesus told that story to Presbyterians. You know who we Presbyterians are, don't you? We are the people who know that business is business.

       Or do we?

       When the roll is called up yonder will someone say of you: "She was as fervent in giving as she was in getting." Will someone say: "He faced the true facts of life and had the priorities of Jesus always in mind." Then you will also hear God say to you in the words of Matthew 25:21: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord and enjoy the treasure that has been stored up for you."