Sermon for Those People Who Didn't Hear the Gospel at the Church They Attended Today or for Those Who Slept In This Morning

Ninth Sunday after Trinity
21 August 2011
Rev. Jon C. Olson

The “dishonest manager” and “the sons of this world” are wiser than the “sons of light” because they recognize how desperate their situation is and go about their business with a focus and passion for improving it.

Christians are the “sons of light”. Here Jesus gives His Church a warning not to become lazy and complacent. Jesus wants the “sons of light” to be just as zealous and passionate as the dishonest manager in His parable. But what do we find when will we look at our lives? Do we have the same zeal and passion as the dishonest manager? It is easier and less work just to give in to our sinful flesh and selfish desires. And the devil likes and encourages you and I to do it. But you cannot run with the devil, thinking he likes you, for very long. Soon he will destroy you. There is no lasting comfort, no real joy or satisfaction in the things he promises. The evil things, which smell so sweet, seem so attractive, so full of wonderful things, turn on us. They betray us and hand us over to embarrassing diseases, family pain, awkward failures, shame, and haunting memories. When will we learn to stop pursuing the things that hurt us and those around us? Why seek sappy sentiments and shallow praise when God Himself speaks in His Word and invites you to feast upon Him? Why remain comfortable by keeping silent compared to speaking the Truth in love to our family and friends caught up in sinful behavior? Repent. God’s people—the baptized, the confirmed, the members of His churches—often do not consider what they are doing and the risk they are taking. Repent.

Beware. Be on guard. Turn before it is too late. With zeal and single-mindedness, seek your own good. But unlike the dishonest manager, seek goodness not in money or the things of this world. Seek goodness where it may be found - in the promises declared in God's Word. Then go on and liive your life, use the wealth entrusted to you, toward the account you will give on the Last Day.

For there is an account to be given, an explanation, a running through of the events that take place throughout your life. And what will you say to the Almighty? Will you point to your deeds, to your sincerity and good intentions, to your charity and life? Will you make excuses for when you did not keep God’s Word? Will you justify your own sinful behavior? No. You will rejoice and not be afraid. For you will say: "I am Baptized into Christ. He because I could not pay it, paid the full redemption price. His works are mine. I am clean, pure, and righteous. I have come to receive my full inheritance. For the Innocent Blood of the Son of God shed by violent and wicked men has been recklessly poured out for me in mercy and compassion to purge me of my own violence and wickedness. God the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ, has made it so that I might be His own and live under Him in His kingdom forever. He has justified me because I cannot justify myself, He has adopted me into His family of the “sons of light”, and rescued me from sin, death and the power of the devil. He has named me. I have no debts, no dishonor, no guilt, no shame, or regret. I have Christ. The voice of Jesus has called me here. In Him, though my sins were like scarlet, they are as white as snow. Though they were red like crimson, they are as wool—for the Blood of Christ has not stained them. The blood of Christ has instead washed my sins away and made me clean.”

And while we wait that account-giving Day, doing everything in the Name of the Lord with passion and intensity, by its approach and the Hope that is in us—we are generous with all that the Lord has given us to manage. We perform works of mercy, the philanthropy of the Creator through our lives, by giving away the gifts of creation and by offering to the world forgiveness and salvation in His Name without cost or price. All things are brought into His service: music we sing and listen to, art that declares the goodness of creation, jobs that serve others, food to sustain us in this life, recreation (like beach vacations in South Carolina), family gatherings—in short, all of our life. Everything is pressed into the service of this proclamation, this hope: "God, who sacrificed His Son to make us His children, will not abandon us to this fallen world, to the abuse of dishonest managers, to the abuse of our own foolish, selfish ways, or even to the abuse of the devil. God will not send us to Hell. The Father is merciful in Christ. He is faithful unto death. He is coming back to claim His own. We have a Friend in heaven, an Advocate before the Father, whose goodwill has been bought with what is not ours. He will receive us into heaven for He has paid for our sins. We are forgiven."

Our lives, everything we have, everything we do, everything we are hinge upon forgiveness in Christ Jesus. There is nothing else. Let us run with our eye on the prize. Let us be as shrewd and focused as the dishonest manager who looked after himself. Let us come hungry to receive His body and His blood, at His invitation, and feast upon that which is truly good and good for us: the Risen Lord. His Body and His Blood shall free us from the strangle hold of death to the liberation of life everlasting with Jesus in heaven. We are now free to be devoted, to be compulsive, and even obsessed Christians who care for others without concern of what it will cost us. Let us be zealous, extreme, and even radical. Let us not be ashamed, for Christ is our Savior, our future, and our reward. In the end, He is the only account we shall give. In Him, Our Father is well pleased - with you.