Gospel Grit and Gumption
Bob Setzer, Jr.
Pastor
Knollwood Baptist Church
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
www.knollwood.org
September 18, 2016
Amos 8:4-7; Luke 16:1-9
Years ago in Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky, the decision was made to build a
fountain in the city’s most prominent public square. The new city manager was asked to get
bids for the project.
The first contractor was from western Kentucky. He offered to build the fountain for
three thousand dollars: "$1,000 for labor,” he explained, “$1,000 for materials, and $1,000 for
me.”
The next contractor was from eastern Kentucky. He offered to build the fountain for six
thousand dollars: $2,000 for labor, $2,000 for materials, and $2,000 for me.
The third contractor was a local-boy-made-good who usually won all the contracts.
When he came into the city manager’s office, he closed the door and glanced around to make
sure they were alone. Then he offered to build the fountain for nine thousand dollars.
“Nine thousand?!” said the newly hired city manager. “That’s considerably more than our
other two bids. Can you break down your bid for me?”
“Sure,” the wily contractor answered: “$3,000 for you, $3,000 for me and $3,000 to pay
the guy from western Kentucky to build the fountain.”
Jesus told a story about another shyster, just that cunning. But the shocking thing about
the story is not that such wheeling-and-dealing goes on in the world. That’s hardly news. No,
the shocking thing about the story is that Jesus commends the dishonest steward who stars in
the story! Jesus even seems to yearn for his disciples to show some of the same grit and
gumption!
The story begins with a bookkeeper who manages the accounts of a wealthy land
baron. The owner discovers his manager does sloppy work and is squandering his assets so he
gives the bookkeeper the boot.
Naturally, this throws the accounts manager into a panic. He’s too old to find another
cushy job and can’t make it on unemployment. What’s he to do? Then he hits upon a scheme.
He fires up his Google contacts and starts making calls. “Hey, George, what’s the old
man’s cut of your harvest this year? . . . 100 barrels of olive oil? Well, we’re running a special:
Get 50 barrels over here by day’s end and we’ll call it even.”
The crooked bookkeeper than makes another call: “Hey, Susan. What’s your balance
with Home-Grown Produce, Ltd? . . . 100 bushels of wheat? Well, have 75 bushels in our barn
by sundown and you’ll be paid up.”
And so it goes, all afternoon long, with the cunning manager cooking the boss’s books,
while giving his tenant farmers the deal of a lifetime. If anything will make this fellow some
friends when he needs them most, this is it.
Now this is where we expect Jesus to weigh in with one of those solemn, “But it shall not
be so among you” sayings. I mean, this guy’s conduct will not pass muster with the Better
Business Bureau, much less the kingdom of God.
And yet, Jesus seems to regard this scoundrel with begrudging admiration. And the
master in the story, far from being outraged, is actually encouraged to see his do-nothing
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employee finally showing some initiative: “And his master commended the dishonest manager
because he had acted shrewdly.”
So what’s up with this parable that in every generation leaves Christians scratching their
heads and turning up their noses? As poor old Augustine confessed, “I can’t believe this story
came from the lips of our Lord.”
But the story makes a point that we, in our struggle with faith and power and position
and privilege, desperately need to hear. Namely, that wealth, while full of spiritual peril, can also
do great good when rightly and flagrantly used to help others. As Jesus says it, “And I tell you,
make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, (others) may
welcome you into the eternal homes.”
I read this week in a story from The Guardian (quoted in Global Baptist News) that
religion in the United States generates $1.2 trillion a year. That makes American religion bigger
than Google and Apple combined, new iPhone notwithstanding, and equivalent to the 15th
largest national economy in the world! No wonder Jesus wants his disciples to show a little
more savvy in the proper use of wealth.
It reminds me of the time the renowned evangelist, Billy Sunday, endured withering
criticism for accepting a sizeable donation from liquor interests. That gospel firebrand’s
response? “The devil’s had that money long enough. Let’s see what the Lord can do with it.”
I think that’s the kind of grit and gumption Jesus is after in his disciples.
Now don’t misunderstand Jesus, Luke, or me. Dishonesty is not a trivial matter. One of
Jesus’ most basic moral requirements, as stated in the Sermon on the Mount, is “Let your Yes
be Yes and your No be No,” or in modern parlance, “Let your word be your bond.”
Jesus also stands with the prophets against those who victimize the poor for economic
gain, such as offering pay day loans with exorbitant interest rates that drive desperate and
destitute folk even deeper into bondage. As the prophet Amos thundered, “Hear this, you that
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trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land . . . and practice deceit with false
balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. . . . (The Lord) will
never forget any of their deeds!”
Taking a page from Amos’ play book, Jesus threw the money changers out of the
temple for fleecing the poor in the buying and selling of sacrifices. And when confronting crafty
Pharisees, lining their own pockets at the people’s expense, he snapped, “You tithe mint and
rue (and the tiniest of herbs) while neglecting justice and the love of God!”
No, Jesus wasn’t soft on questionable business practices, especially those targeting the
poor. And yet in the parable of the dishonest steward, whose interests does this schemer
serve? His own, to be sure. But also those tenant farmers whose indebtedness for once is
lessened, rather than increased, giving them a real shot at empowerment and liberation. And no
one delights more in this than the land baron who nods knowingly, a big smile on his face, and
commends the dishonest steward for acting shrewdly. Maybe he, like the God of the Bible, has
a soft spot for those struggling to get a new start like the immigrants commemorated on the
Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe
free.”
Thus, it is not so much dishonesty that is being celebrated here as shrewdness. And
shrewdness not just in the service of one’s own interests, but in the interest of others, and
shrewdness in the service of God.
Take for example, the interracial, interfaith Habitat Build our church is helping to lead.
Here, a sizeable investment of our church’s missions dollars and a good portion of sweat equity
from some of our members, is helping a needy family find decent, affordable housing. And not
housing that they rent, keeping them forever encumbered, but housing they own, meaning
someday they’ll be free.
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Habitat’s model of helping is doing with and not just doing for, as the interest-free
mortgage payments made by these new homeowners goes into a fund that in turn helps others
finance a new Habitat home. To me, this is a savvy kingdom investment, a shrewd way of
“paying it forward.” As one of the team leaders of our church’s Habitat Build said it, “Habitat is
not a giveaway program. It is a hand-up, not a handout. It is truly one of the best examples of
empowerment.”
Or what of the members of our All God’s Children ministry team who are encouraging
employers to remove the criminal history check box from employment applications? Not
because one’s criminal history is off limits in an interview or background check, but because the
interview is where the conversation belongs. After all, no one’s interests are served if the
formerly incarcerated return to a life of crime for want of a decent job. And those willing to give
a reformed ex-offender a chance, are likely to win a loyal, dedicated employee, which to me is
yet another example of sanctified business sense.
Or what of that magnificent building climbing skyward on the back side of our campus?
Yes, our new Wellness and Community Center--and the ministries of welcome, health, and
wholeness it represents--requires a large investment. But if that investment helps keep this
church’s life and witness vital and strong for decades to come, as I believe it will, then that is
money well spent.
Last Sunday, a remarkably able group of Knollwoodians sat around a table tweaking our
ministry plan for that new space. I was astounded at the number of partners already lining up to
help us serve niches of need in our community, from Special Olympics to the iCan House’s
Partners-in-Art initiative, to a possible after-school program for at-risk kids.
And on the health and wellness front, this week we had our first Zumba class at KBC-Shimmy with Jimmy--leading one Knollwoodian to observe, “These days, we not only have
dancing at Knollwood, but belly dancing too!”
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Habitat houses, Ban the Box, the Wellness and Community Center: these are all part of
a rich and diverse ministry portfolio. Such kingdom initiatives reveal what a generous, caring,
and committed church this is.
And while, to my knowledge, we don’t have scoundrels on the order of the dishonest
steward working on any of those projects, we do have people just as smart and savvy. It’s just
that Jesus has turned their considerable gifts to his service. And our church and community are
the better for it.
So maybe Luke and Jesus want us to understand: Our resources of time, talent, and
treasure are meant for a higher purpose than simply increasing our own comfort zone. Instead,
we’re called to take some risks in growing a faith big and bold enough to make a real difference
in the world.
A couple of summers ago, Beth Fields, Mark Jensen, and I visited with one of our
church’s mission partners in Nicaragua: Project Amos. Project Amos is an ambitious venture in
community medicine led by two American Baptist missionaries and doctors, David and Laura
Parajon. And it is a savvy effort too in that Project Amos trains lay health care promoters to
work in rural villages a day’s walk or a 3-hour horse ride from the nearest doctor.
In one of these villages where we stayed, the health care promoter, a young woman,
was not receiving the support and respect she needed to be successful, not even from her own
father. So the last day of our visit, Dr. Laura, an Asian-American, pulled Mark and me aside and
told us she wanted us to give this dad a good talking to. “He won’t listen to me,” Dr. Laura
explained, “because I’m a woman, but he’ll listen to you because you’re men and you’re from
America.”
Then with a sly grin, she added, “I want you to use your white male privilege to talk
some sense into him.”
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So standing in a pouring rain in an earthen road, rapidly turning to muddy soup at our
feet, Mark and I visited with this Nicaraguan farmer. We told him what a gift his daughter was to
the community, and what a courageous and able health care worker she was. We told him how
proud we were of her and that he should be proud of her too.
Apparently, something we said hit home. Because Dr. Laura later reported that this
single mom was now thriving as a lay health care provider because she was getting the support
she needed, starting with her own father.
I’ll never forget what Dr. Laura told us: “I need you to use your white male privilege.”
Not get rid of it, as though we could, but to use it.
Maybe in this strange, funky parable, Jesus is calling us to use our wealth and privilege
to help the “least of these.”
“Because from everyone to whom much is given,” said Jesus, “much will be required.”
And that, dear brothers and sisters, would be us.
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O holy Christ, thank you for the incredible opportunity we have, as both individuals and
a congregation, to make a lasting impact for your kingdom. Now make us savvy and faithful
managers of all you have entrusted to us. Amen.
Bob Setzer, Jr.
Pastor
[email protected]
Knollwood Baptist Church
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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