September 24, 1995	The Problem of Integrity	Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Luke 16:1-13

Our gospel lesson for today is a little confusing to most of us as we hear it read. It is the story of a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. The rich man calls his manager in and tells him to give an accounting of his work and tells him that he is about to be fired. So, fearing that he is going to be without a job, without any money, and homeless, the manager decides that he will make good friends of those persons who owe the rich man money, thinking that these persons will give him a place to live if they think he is their friend. So, one at a time, he goes to these persons and asks them how much they owe the rich man. And then the manager of the rich man's estate lowers each of their debts, some by as much as half.

Now, you would think that the rich man would have been very angry with this manager when he found out about this. After all, what the manager was doing was pretty dishonest. Nevertheless, the rich man commends the dishonest manager, not for being dishonest, but simply for being shrewd. And the moral of the story here, or what Jesus is trying to teach is this: The dishonest manager was prudent in using the things of this life to ensure the future; just as believers should be prudent, as well, in order to build up the Body of Christ.

What do we think about the future? When I was a youngster, growing up in Flint, I didn't believe we had much of a future. People were building fallout shelters in their backyards and hoarding up supplies of food and water in their homes just in case. I remember the bomb drills we had at school. We were taken into a basement hallway in our school and made to sit on the floor of the hallway with our hands over our heads and our heads almost between our knees. We all thought that the Russians were going to drop a bomb on us and we were going to die. We didn't think too far into the future. The kids I grew up with and I really didn't think we would live to see 1980, let alone the year 2,000. But here we are.

In a real sense, I believe such a fear of dying, of believing that we had no future affected the baby-boomer generation, especially as the 1960's came with its emphasis on free love and drugs. Without a sense of the future young people were prone to drop out and turn off, or to eat, drink, and be merry, fully believing that tomorrow they would probably die, anyway.

But, our gospel lesson for today tells us that we do need to take care to ensure the future. In spite of what Jesus told his disciples; that they should not be anxious about tomorrow, he did tell them that they had a future that they should take care of. And, what's more, he told them to use the things of this world, their material possessions, their wealth, in combination with their shrewdness, their prudence, to build up the Body of Christ.

Most of us don't like the idea of looking at the church as a business. Nevertheless, that is what Christ is telling his disciples in today's gospel lesson. He is telling God's children of the light to be as shrewd in building up the Body of Christ as this world's children of darkness are in building up their businesses. What a concept this is! And, indeed, this advice is certainly something for us to look at very carefully.

In fact, there are some ideas used by businesses that we who are leaders in the church should consider. First, in just about every successful big business there is an R. & D. department. Research and Development. People are paid tens of thousands of dollars every year just to come up with new product designs, new sales techniques, and new concepts. Indeed, if businesses didn't do this they wouldn't last very long. Someone else would come along and take away their market. And, so, most of today's businesses don't look much like they did even 25 years ago.

Churches need to have R. & D. going on, as well. Certainly, it should always start with Bible study and prayer. But how important it is for us to be creative and constantly open to the Spirit's leading us into new directions, incorporating more effective designs and techniques and concepts to convey the gospel to the world. Many of those churches that are doing this are seeing rapid growth, today. But those churches that still insist upon using the same methods and designs and techniques popular just twenty years ago are getting left in the dust, today. How important it is for us to be shrewd, ever open and willing to try ever more effective ways to tell others about our Lord. As Jesus pointed out, you can bet that the atheists and agnostics and the children of darkness are shrewd in their ways of doing business. And so must we be shrewd and creative as we seek to follow and serve our Lord.

As we look at this morning's gospel lesson, it is interesting to note that as Jesus was talking about this dishonest steward, he also started to talk about how important it is to be trustworthy. Certainly, Jesus didn't want anyone to think that his story about the dishonest steward was an approval of dishonesty for the sake of the growth of the kingdom of God. Rather, Jesus suggested that if anything Christians need to be more trustworthy with worldly wealth than non-Christians, because, as he said, "If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with the riches of heaven?"

One of the biggest problems facing businesses today is the problem of trust. In many places across the country corporations have found that if you give people the opportunity to lie, cheat, or steal over 60% will do it. When I was on vacation this summer in Maryland, we stayed in a motel. And there was a sign in the bathroom next to the towels that had a picture of a wash cloth, a hand towel, and a bath towel, each one with a face, making them look like a little family – father towel, mother towel, and baby towel. And the sign had the words, "Don't break up a happy family!" And then, in smaller print at the bottom of the sign there was a warning to anyone who might be tempted to steal a towel; that they would be charged an additional fee for the replacement of towels.

Isn't it amazing that a hotel would have to resort to a sign like this because of the dishonesty of its patrons? And one has to wonder how long American businesses can keep going as long as there is cheating, lying, and stealing taking place among employees. Several years ago Maytag was considering moving its headquarters from Iowa to another more metropolitan state. After quite a bit of study the decision was made to stay where they were because they learned that the people of Iowa had one of the highest honesty ratings of persons anywhere in the United States. We shouldn't be surprised though. The percentage of regular church attenders is also higher in Iowa than in many other states. We might well conclude then that having a relationship with Jesus Christ makes a person more dependable; that having employees who are real Christians makes for good business.

Indeed, trust is so important. In fact trust is the basis of our relationship with God. There is a story of a little boy who wanted to climb on old apple tree. So, his father stood below watching his son as he climbed. The limbs were rotten, however, and began to break under the boy's weight. As the man's son stepped to other branches they broke, as well. Seeing his son's plight, the father held his arms upward toward the boy and called, "Jump, Buddy, and I'll catch you." The boy looked down at his father, then as more limbs began breaking he said, "Shall I let go of everything, Daddy, and trust you?" His father nodded. Immediately the boy jumped and was safe in his father's arms.

What a lesson that is for us of how God wants us to trust him! Can we also say to God, "Father, shall I let go of everything, and trust you?" If we let go and give God our simple trust, we will quickly find how wonderfully God will supply our needs.

Can we trust God? Indeed, can God trust us? As we go through our life, how easy it is for us to put our complete trust in things that look promising and impressive: in technology, in medicine, in science, and in the structures of society. But even these things can fall to ruins. The technology can fail, and medicine can only do so much, and science has its limits, and society can become corrupt. But the steadfast love of God will last forever. And so Jesus told his disciples: "No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money. You cannot be both devoted to serving God and being engaged with the sinful practices of this world.

There is the story of a young lady who said to a friend, "I believe that it is alright for a Christian to go anywhere she wants to." Her friend replied, "Certainly she can. but I am reminded of something that happened when I went with a group of friends once to explore a coal mine. One of the young women in our group appeared dressed in a dainty white gown. When her friends warned her about wearing such a dress into a coal mine the young woman asked the old miner who was to act as their guide into the mine. "Can't I wear a white dress down into the mine?" she asked. "Well, sure," replied the old man. "There's nothing to keep you from wearing a white dress down in the mine, but there will be a whole lot to keep you from wearing one back."

May God bless us as we strive for integrity in our relationship with God; as we shrewdly work for the growth of the Body of Christ.	Amen.