“If You’ve Got It…”

September 19, 2010

Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1 Luke 16:1-13 1 Timothy 2:1-7

What do you think of when you hear the phrase “If you’ve got it..?” I did an Internet search on that phrase
and found several answers. Of course, the most common answer was to say “If you’ve got it, flaunt it”
with links ranging from clothing manufacturers and retailers to a contest for the sexiest vegetarian. Other
answers came back with promotions for Facebook and MySpace, “If you’ve got it, share it, if you’ve got
it, shake it, it you’ve got it, blog it, and from the management consulting company, McKinsey and
Company, “If you’ve got it, spend it.”

In the year 2000, the per capita income of the United States, that is, the income earned, on average, by
every man, woman and child in America, was $34,100. This is 360 percent of the global average of
$7410. If we compare our wealth to the poor of the world, we see that 56 percent of the world’s
population earns only $730 per year and half of those earn only $360 per year. In our country, (in 2009)
we considered a single person to be poor and in need of government assistance if they earned less than
$10,830. Clearly, whatever “it” is, we have it. In the eyes of more than half of the world, even the
poorest among us live lives of fabulous wealth and luxury.

So if we, as Americans, have been blessed by God and have cars and houses and are able to eat three
meals a day (or more) as well as disposable income that allows us to go to amusement parks and enjoy a
variety of recreational opportunities as well as an uncountable number of hobbies, and if we reach a place
where we recognize the blessing that we’ve been given, then what should we expect that God desires for
us to do with what we’ve been given? If you’ve got it… then what? As the pastor of a church with
significant financial problems, you might expect me to say something about what God wants you to give
to the church, and while that may be appropriate someday, that is not the message today.

The prophet Jeremiah lived during a time of great stress, transition and cataclysm as Israel and Judah were
attacked by Egypt and eventually overrun by Babylon and many of the people carried off into slavery.
Jeremiah proclaims the words of God from Jerusalem and later, after fleeing Babylonian reprisals for the
assassination of their puppet government, Jeremiah continues to proclaim the words of God from Egypt.

Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1

18
O my Comforter in sorrow,
my heart is faint within me.
19
Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away:
"Is the LORD not in Zion?
Is her King no longer there?"
"Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?"

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20
"The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved."
21
Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.
22
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?
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Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people.

The people of Israel and Judah had been, relatively speaking, comfortably wealthy. They had good land
on which to grow crops, most people had work, and although there were people who were poor, most
people had food to eat. What the people did not have was faith. God sent Jeremiah to warn the nations
that God was standing in judgment of them because they had forgotten him and were worshipping idols.
In these verses we hear Jeremiah cry out as he mourns the loss of his nation, the freedom of its people and
worst of all the loss of God’s temple. To Jeremiah, it seems as if all has been lost and God no longer rules
over Israel.

When we read these verses, and others like them, I often hear people respond by saying that this is the
twenty-first century, that this is the United States of America and that we, obviously, no longer worship
idols here. When we read these verses, many of our friends and neighbors and many of us here today
have a hard time understanding how the words of Jeremiah have any connection to our modern society.
To answer this, at least in part, let’s take a look at the words of Jesus recorded in Luke 16:1-13…
1
Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.
2
So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management,
because you cannot be manager any longer.'
3
"The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong
enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg— 4I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will
welcome me into their houses.'
5
"So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
6
" 'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied.
"The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.'
7
"Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?'
" 'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied.
"He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.'

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"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this
world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9I tell you, use
worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal
dwellings.
10
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with
very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly
wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's
property, who will give you property of your own?
13
"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."

From time to time, there is some confusion when we read this parable from folk who wonder if Jesus was
advocating for Christians to be ruthless, dishonest and deceptive. Clearly, I think, that is not the case.
There are however several lessons that we can draw from this story. First, as it relates to idol worship,
please notice that Jesus makes a solid case that money is often the focus of worship. As citizens of the
wealthiest nation that has ever existed, and as followers of Jesus Christ, we must be very careful about our
attitudes toward money. A worshipper of money would argue that if you’ve got it, you should use what
you have to earn more. A worshipper of money will put the need to earn more money ahead of spiritual
needs. A worshipper of money will spend more time and energy studying finance than studying scripture,
more time discussing the stock market than discussing matters of faith and more time manipulating their
portfolio and sharing stock tips than sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. In many ways we are tempted
daily to allow money to take first place in our hearts instead of the things of God. In this light, truly, we
must be very cautious to hear Jeremiah’s despair over Israel’s idol worship.

The second lesson that we hear in this passage is the respect that the master had for the shrewdness of his
manager. It was not the dishonesty that he respected, clearly the dishonesty of the manager cost the
master a lot of money. Instead it was the shrewdness, the quick thinking, the street smarts that the
manager demonstrated in turning an obviously bad situation to his own advantage. Jesus says, “the people
of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” Jesus tells
us that we are not as good as the rest of the world in using the intellect that God gave us. We are often
accused of leaving our brains at the door or of being “mind-numbed robots” when we come to church and
in this passage Jesus himself warns us not to do that. He has given us an intellect and he applauds us
when we are “street smart” and use the brains we have been given to turn situations to our advantage. The
difference is that we are not called to deceive people, we are not called to be dishonest, but instead we are
called to use what we have been given to our best advantage. We are not called to use what we have been
given to worship money and to gain still more money, but we are called to use what we have been given to
make eternal friends, to make friends in this world that will last for eternity. Jesus calls us not to use
money to earn more money, but to use the wealth that we have been given to bring people into the
kingdom of God.

Jesus connects the dots for us by describing trustworthiness. People who are not trustworthy with
someone else’s money are seeking to serve only themselves, they worship only themselves and money. If
we serve God, then we recognize that what we have has been given to us, in trust, by God. Our financial

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management choices should be driven not only by our need to make a living for ourselves and for our
families, but also by our desire to maximize the impact of what we have for the Kingdom of God.

Before we’re finished, I know that several of us have been thinking that we are already stretched as far as
we can stretch financially. For some of us, there just isn’t anything left that can be used, shrewdly or
otherwise, to grow God’s Kingdom. I understand that but before you begin to think that you’re off the
hook today, I want you to listen to Paul’s advice to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:1-7…
1
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for
kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
3
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of
the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave
himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. 7And for this purpose I was
appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a teacher of the true faith
to the Gentiles.

Paul reminds his young friend that he should not just pray for the people at church and not just for the
people that treat him nicely, but that he should he should bring the needs of everyone to God’s throne of
grace. As followers of Jesus, we are called to pray for the needs of everyone, for all of our leaders in
government, both Democrat and Republican, regardless of whether we like them or not. God is pleased
when what we do causes others to be saved. Paul’s emphasis on requests, prayers, intercession and
thanksgiving reminds us that God isn’t all about money. The phrase today cannot be completed by saying
“If you’ve got it, spend it.” Instead we are reminded that we are to put to use everything that God has
given to us. We are to use our wealth wisely but also our intellect, our time, our strength, our health, our
talents as well as our prayers and petitions before God, so that others will come to know Jesus as their
Lord, their rescuer and their friend.

We live in the wealthiest nation that has ever existed on the face of the earth. We have all been given gifts
by a generous God. We are not called to flaunt them, or spend them, or shake them, or blog about them.
God calls upon all of his followers to use everything that we have been given to grow his kingdom.

And so, our message for today is this:

Regardless of what you’ve been given, if you’ve got it, use it… for the glory of God.

Amen.

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