Frankly, I'm amazed. I know I shouldn't be, but I have been amazed at how the last several weeks' readings have spoken to our situation here at Zion. I say I shouldn't be, because I recognize the Lord is speaking to you through these sermons, but it still amazes me to see how much that is true. Had I wanted to do a sermon series addressing the ministry at Zion, which is where we have so many questions, I don't think I could have found texts that fit better.

And then we get today's. It doesn't seem to say too much to our situation. Now, I fully realize we are each going through more in our lives than this one issue in our congregation, but as we deal with this, we will find the answers for this will give us answers for our other issues. As we learn to hear God's Word addressed to this, we will be better able to hear Him speak to these other issues. Therefore, when I saw this text, I was left scratching my head, wondering what this might say to our questions. I knew addressing them from the pulpit is the best place to start talking about them, but this didn't seem to give that opportunity.

But I was wrong. The manager in this parable shows us something that is crucial for our faith and our situation here at Zion. He shows trust in his master, trust we lack in just about every aspect of our lives. We want to learn to trust more, so we get something out of this, but we don't get it by simply repeating, "Trust God" over and over again like a mantra. It comes when the Lord speaks to us.

At our quarterly meeting, Lowell spoke about how we will get through this with God's help. Absolutely, and as we have seen, according to the letter, this will happen as we become more reliant on God's mercy. We don't simply say God is merciful; we see it. He shows us.

The people of God in the Old Testament repeated frequently the fact of His mercy by recalling accounts of their deliverance from their enemies. Ps. 136 is perfect for it. It's set up with a repeating refrain, "...for His steadfast love endures forever." It comes after each phrase which talks about the Lord's deliverance from Egypt and their other enemies. But they didn't do it to simply remind themselves. They didn't do it to convince themselves. They spoke it because it was the Word the Lord had given them. They spoke it because that word was powerful. It was the Gospel. It gave them life.

We will grow, as we hope. We will come out of this, benefited and blessed, as we hear the Lord speak to us--even today. He will speak words of life. Here's the thing, though, we won't be able to hear those words of life until we know we need to hear them.

So in this character in this parable we are shown our need to hear the words of life and then we are given those words. Through these we learn to trust, to grow in confidence that our Lord cares about His people's spiritual needs, and then for their physical needs.

So, who is the manager who was wasting the rich man's possessions? It's us. We are given riches beyond measure and yet we squander them. We are given the best news we could ever hear, but we don't want to hear it. We tune it out when it is being said. "Yeah, we know all this." But we don't, because if we did, we wouldn't waste it. I know this because I'm tempted to do the same. I'll come to a point in my reading, and I'll skip over the Gospel proclamation. I'm in a rush, so since I already know this, I'll just jump over to a different section. I'm no better than you. In fact, I may be worse. I say this to my shame.

But what about other resources He gives us? Our skills, our time, our interests, our intelligence? What do we do with them? It says that the sons of this world are more shrewd than the sons of light. They will convert all this into making money for themselves. Do we do the same? We need to make a living, that's true, but do we think only about making a living?

Why aren't we taken immediately to be with our Lord in His glory as soon as we are baptized? Why doesn't He take us as soon as He claims us? Because He needs us to be here to serve our neighbor. Our neighbor needs us. We serve our neighbor when we do our jobs, our callings, but check your motives. If we look deeply enough, we will find they are likely to be selfish. Behind our decisions is often the question: What can I get out of this?

The sons of this world serve themselves. Do the sons of light do the same thing? If so, then we squander the gifts we are given. Try this out. Do we pray for our neighbor? This may not being using the physical resources, but here's a tremendous resource we are given to serve our neighbor. Do we use it? Do we come to the Lord on behalf of our neighbor, not praying that our neighbor gets what we think he needs, but rather what is best for him? Do we speak to the Lord about our neighbor or to other neighbors about him? And when we do speak about our neighbor, are we speaking good things about him and defending him or are we spreading gossip? We've been given tongues and lips, a voice, but how do we use them?

What do we do with the name we've been given? We call ourselves Christian. That's not a name to be taken lightly. We carry Christ, the Savior of the world's name with us. Do we behave as though we are carrying His name? What do people see when they look at us? Do they see what they should expect of a Christian, a person who has been transformed by Christ's sacrifice, who seeks to serve his neighbor? Or do they see someone who wants to serve himself? How do we speak of the Lord and His Church and everything associated with them?

So, we are the dishonest manager, because we squander the possessions our master has given us. But notice what this manager does. He relies on the mercy of his master. The master could have had him arrested. A manager wasting another's possessions is not just getting sloppy with the books, he using the other's money for his own purposes. The manager is not surprised he is being fired. But he notices he is not arrested.

He should be just like we should be damned. But we aren't. Instead, we are shown mercy.

God in His mercy came down from heaven. He became flesh. He lived a perfect life and died. God did all this, Himself. This is mercy. We tend to think He does one of these numbers, "Ohhh, alright. I'll let that go." That's not mercy. That's permissiveness. Our Lord would never do that. He may love us, but He won't just let our sin go. He can't. He is just, that means He is fair. He must punish our sins. But He is also merciful. He doesn't want to punish us. He will punish another--Himself. God Himself will take our punishment. He couldn't put it on another sinner. It wouldn't do anything. It must be someone who has no sin. Someone who is capable of making something happen. So, He puts it on Himself. Now, that's mercy. That's what He has done for you.

This is the mercy we have to consider. This manager didn't have a whole lot to go by. He noticed he wasn't arrested. That shows a glimpse of mercy. In our case, we're not talking about a glimpse, a little drop, we are talking about tank-fulls of high-grade mercy. Look at the cross to see that mercy. This is the mercy that is always there for us, His baptized sons. From there we can venture out with other questions.

Does He care about His congregation here? Look at the cross. What does that tell you? He has redeemed each one of us. He wants to keep feeding us. He feeds you here through me and any other pastor. He speaks His word. HE speaks it. He wants to keep doing that. He wants you to have a place where you can hear it, a gathering of people who support one another in their hearing of it. He feeds you His Word not only as it is spoken, but as it comes as real food. Over and over, He extends His mercy until you are stuffed. Or in the words of the familiar 23rd Psalm, my cup runs over, running over with His mercy.

Therefore, He is not happy at all, about the turbulence our congregation is feeling right now. It interrupts the flow of His mercy. We pray, "Thy will be done," regularly, in the Lord's Prayer. This means we pray that our Father in heaven, would break and hinder every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world and our sinful nature that would not let us hallow God's name or let His kingdom come. That is what He wants to do here. He wants to send His Holy Spirit so that we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives. This blocks it. He is never happy about conflict. It means someone has taken a position against His. This doesn't mean we avoid simply conflict, because the position of peace could still mean His Holy Spirit is being blocked.

Remember what the Lord says through Jeremiah as we heard last week, "The words of the prophets, who prophesy to you, fill you with vain hopes. They say continually to those who despise the Word of the Lord, 'It shall be well with you' and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, 'No disaster shall come upon you.'" If no one challenged those false prophets, there would be no visible conflict, but God's will is still not done. It takes little to see this is what the devil would want. The Lord wants to see this addressed and resolved in a godly way, so His mercy can flow unimpeded. I know you do too.

Now we come even more into the general language of our text. "Make friends for yourselves by mean of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings."

This is talking about the way we use money. Money is something our merciful Lord supplies, as we receive payment in one form or another, or some kind of support for our bodies and lives. But He says, "Make friends for yourselves." That's what this manager did. Jesus is not talking about making friends for our own purposes. This guy used his boss's money to buy his way into these other people's favor. He manipulated them. We are not to do that, but we are to use the resources the Lord has given us. The Lord will supply. That's what the cross tells us. That's what you hear every time you come to the Divine Service. He will supply what you need. He will not let you be in dire need. He is your Father.

But as He supplies it for your support, you can use the same to serve your neighbor. Make friends for yourselves. Serve others. Will they be your friends for it? Not necessarily. They may even turn against you. But serve them anyway. We need to think less of what we need, recognizing He supplies, and more about what our neighbor needs.

It's not all monetary, either. It's even our energy. We might feel we don't have the energy to serve another. I know I've felt that. But do we really run out? I'm not saying to ignore your family to serve strangers. That would be wrong, because you have been given your family, first and foremost, to serve. Serve them. That's the neighbor the Lord would have you serve, and then serve others outside the family. Speaking of serving others, question hard the modern day advice we hear all the time, "Be sure to take care of yourself," or "Don't forget about yourself." That advice quickly becomes a black hole. When we turn inward to look at ourselves and what we need personally, we create a circle, a circle that gets tighter and tighter until we are consumed by our need to give ourselves what we think we need. The more we try to fill our own needs, the less we are able to see what another needs.

Look at the manager in our Lord's parable, again. He counted on his master's mercy. We can do the same many times over. Our Lord supplies. He will see that we are given what we need. He even says that when we find ourselves being tested, He will supply the very thing we need to be able to stand up and endure it. He will supply the very thing you are being given this morning--Jesus Christ and the message of salvation. With this, we can endure. With this, we can serve others and with this we can rest confidently knowing He will care of His Church.

AMEN