Amos 8:4-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-7, Luke 16:1-13
The common theme of these passages is sharing generously, like God does. What does God want us to share?
Everyday needs
This includes such basics as food, clothing and shelter. Just take a moment to think about how good and generous God is with the everyday provisions. We might not have everything we want but we have everything we need.
We all enjoy plenty of good food, clothing and shelter, our everyday needs are met. But what does God have to say about it? Read Amos 8:4,5 – Listen to this, you that trample on the needy and try to destroy the poor of the country. You say to yourselves, “We can hardly wait for the holy days to be over so that we can sell our grain. When will the Sabbath end, so that we can start selling again? Then we can overcharge, use false measures, and fix the scales to cheat our customers.”
God wants us to share our material goods with the poor and needy. There really is enough for everyone. In God’s economy there is abundance so don’t let anyone convince you there is scarcity. God is able to replenish anything we give away.
Freedom
Think about the freedom we enjoy in our lives: freedom of speech, freedom to choose a lifestyle and to worship whom we choose.
Although we enjoy freedom, there are many people in the world who don’t. Read Amos 8:6. We can sell worthless wheat at a high price. We’ll find someone poor who can’t pay his debts, not even the price of a pair of sandals, and we’ll buy him as a slave. Has anyone ever bought a pair of sandals. What did they cost? Amos said that some people were being sold for the price of a pair of sandals. That’s not just and injustices like that happen every day. Some shoes in the world are not made in a fair trade way. God does not want people to be slaves but to be able to live in freedom and work for a fair wage. We have opportunities to put pressure on the perpetrators of such injustice and we need ot take those opportunities – as well as seeing to it that our actions are just. One way to do this is to insist on buying fair trade garments, coffee, bananas and so on.
Prayer
What a privilege we have to be able to talk to God at any time.I wonder how prayer can be shared. Read 1 Timothy 2:1,2. First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, requests, and thanksgivings be offered to God for all people; for kings and all others who are in authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceful life with all reverence toward God and with proper conduct.
We are not told to pray for ourselves but for others. Prayer is a wonderful gift from God but we should not be selfish with it. A friend of mine pointed out to me this week that when we say the Lord’s Prayer we never say I, me or my we say we, us and our. We pray for one another and indeed for the whole world.
God’s Son
The topping on this quarter is ‘God’s Son’. No, we’re not dishing Jesus up on a pizza. This is to remind us how privileged we are to know Jesus and his forgiveness through his death on the cross.
What does God have to say about his Son? Read 1 Timothy 2:4,5. God wants everyone to be saved and to come to know the truth. For there is one God, and there is one who brings God and human beings together, the man Christ Jesus, The way we can share this section of pizza is to tell everyone the good news about Jesus.
The parable in Luke 16 speaks of generosity, too, although understanding it is difficult. Jesus’ conclusion is inevitable but how he gets there is what has puzzled everyone who has studied this passage. It is important to keep a few guidelines in mind when working out what Jesus was saying. First, passages like Amos 8 are in the background. God always hates deception and usury. Secondly, the context is of absolute urgency: the master’s judgement is imminent and the debts are huge. Jesus’ parable is a call to action. Thirdly, Jesus is not endorsing the manager’s dishonesty, but commending his sense of priorities. Money is only of temporary value and far more important things are in view for the people of God. Verses 10-13 pick up key terms from verses 8,9 to explain that how they handle money now has eternal consequences – honesty even in small worldly things is crucial; there can be no divided loyalties (v 13). In this sense Jesus is correcting one possible misconception of the parable: dishonesty is never acceptable in the kingdom of God but a radical review of priorities most certainly is. This spirit is to be found in Paul’s words to Timothy.
God has given us so much. He also wants us to be just and to share his good things fairly with others. Psalm 113 reminds us that God sees everything that happens on earth and is free from partiality.
Ending
Take a moment to think about your part in all this, your contribution to the whole. And think about how you might be more just or more sharing. You might like to write on your bulletin something you can do to be more just in your life, eg buy fair trade products, or treat your friends more fairly.
Pray: Lord, God, by way of your will being done one earth may we, together, will help fulfil your purpose for us to be just, sharing, caring people.