“Suppose you’d watched the slow accretion of snow over thousands of years as it was compressed and pushed over the deep rock until the glacier calved its icebergs into the sea, and you watched an iceberg drift out through the chilly waters, and you got to know its cargo of happy polar bears and seals as they looked forward to a brave new life in the other hemisphere where they say the ice floes are lined with crunchy penguins, and then wham—tragedy loomed in the shape of thousands of tons of unaccountably floating iron and an exciting soundtrack…”
(Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time)
I don’t know where Terry Pratchett finds himself today, but as a fantasy fiction writer, the man had a wonderful way of restating the obvious into mindblowing truths.
Jesus tells a very weird story in Luke 16 about a Dishonest Manager who is commended by his master for being shrewd in his dealings.
I tend to skip over the parable because it never really fit into God’s character for me. In other words… I never really spent time to try and understand it in context because I just didn’t get it. But there is a key hidden away in the middle of the parable, that if you read it with the context of who Jesus is speaking to, and who is listening, all of a sudden makes a lot of sense!
So the short version is that there is a Financial manager that is pretty bad at his job and is about to get fired. His master calls him in for an audit, and the man realises his time is done. So he uses his last bit of clout to make friends by giving massive discounts on products and services owed. Yet… His master turns around and commends him for acting shrewdly…!?
Essentially, he turned massive losses into economic gain for his master as well as clearing the debtor’s book.
So then Jesus says something that doesn’t make sense unless you read it in the bigger picture of time, space and the people in attendance:
“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
(Luke 16:9 NIV)
Jesus makes a few very important points here:
1. You should actively use your position in the world, in a way acceptable to the world, but for the Kingdom.
Then…
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
(Luke 16:13 NIV)
2. When you are working in the world, you need to decide what your position and attitude is going to be.
In other words… You need to decide who you are working for: The kingdom of God, or a paycheck (from which you maybe give a tithe)?
Decide why are you in the position you are in, and how you are serving the Kingdom while acting ”shrewdly” so that the world will not only respect your abilities but also your work ethic… AND request you and your skills BECAUSE you work without compromise?
…and lastly,
“Any man who divorces his wife to marry another woman is committing adultery. The man who marries a woman divorced in this way is committing adultery.”
(Luke 16:18 GWT)
3. Beware of Greed
This seemingly random piece of marital wisdom and law seems quite out of place, but the deeper context is not simply divorce, but divorce for the purpose of remarrying someone else. In other words, Jesus is using the marriage example for Lusting after “something” else… or Greed
Don’t be like the world… If you put your ethics and morals on the shelf in an effort to obtain something (or in the example Jesus uses: Using a loophole in the law to get what you are lusting after) That is just not how we operate.
Don’t get caught up in the business practices of the world, and the ways of the world. Shape the world around you according to God’s Character and the Grace Jesus showed us! God doesn’t need the wealth of the world, it is just dust… so why should you then work?
The only other purpose for us being in worldly positions is because God wants our influence on the people and in the workplace.
So ultimately, then… This is the question I have to ask myself:
Am I doing “World” so that I have the resources to do “Kingdom”?
…or…
Am I doing “Kingdom” and letting God use the resources of the “world” to feed, empower and sustain me?
From which angle are you looking at your job in the workplace?
It looks so very similar from the outside, but in one, I am putting my best time and hours into the world, so that what I can make can build up God’s Kingdom.
But in the other, God is providing “world” opportunities, knowing that I will use it as a resource to build up God’s Kingdom, while sharing God’s Grace and permeating my workplace with God’s fragrance!
Or in terms that I can understand… How much sand can I shovel if I bring my own shovel, and how much sand can God shovel through me if I use the bulldozer He brings?
You see?
