September 16, 2022

Dear Road Church Friends,

We gain a clearer understanding of Jesus’ world view through the many stories he told. Most of them are about the kingdom of God for which we are taught to pray. They suggest how things might be in the world if we lived according to God’s will. Some of his stories are short and simple. Others are longer and require deeper thought. But all of them challenge us to imagine how things could be or ought to be if God ruled in our personal lives and in our society. One of the most difficult of all Jesus’ parables is the story of the Dishonest Manager who uses his crafty shrewdness to defraud his boss. Jesus admires his shrewdness without approving his dishonest use of it. He wishes his followers would be as single-minded in the use of their wits and resources to advance the kingdom with as much energy, as worldly-minded people are energized to gain wealth and feather their own nests. Let’s gather Sunday at 10 am and think on these things.

               SCRIPTURE:  Luke 16:1-9, 13   SERMON TITLE:  Single-Minded Service

Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 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.’ 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—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ So, he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil’, he replied. The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ 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.’ The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings…No servant can serve two masters.”

HYMN OF THE DAY:  Love Divine, All Loves Excelling   #358

POEM OF THE DAY:  On This Island by W. H. Auden

The judge enforcing the obsolete law,

The banker making the loan for the war,

The expert designing the long-range gun

To exterminate everyone under the sun,

Would like to get out but can only mutter—

What can I do? It’ my bread and butter.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

    Dearest Lord, teach us to be generous, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to seek reward, serving you, and you alone. Equip us to serve our fellow-men throughout the world who live and die in poverty. Give them through our hands, this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love give peace and joy.

Blessings to all of you,

Pastor Norm

This service on YouTube: https://youtu.be/58C9GSvw9Fg