Intellectual Honesty

The Rev. Joseph Winston

September 23, 2007

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
On billboards around the city of Houston, you can see this message in ex-
tremely large type, “Doing Business by the Book.” Underneath this phrase in a
slightly smaller font is the phrase, “What you Won’t Learn From Harvard Busi-
ness School.” Off on one side is a photograph of a man reading a book. Looking
closer at the sign, you soon can see that it really is an advertisement for a sermon
series at all the Second Baptist Church locations in Houston.
Being slightly curious about what they teach about business that a world class
business school leaves out, I went the to their web site and read the following two
paragraphs that describes their signs found around Houston:

10 Weeks - 10 Books - 10 principles that will change the way you do

1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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 business. We all want to be successful, but where can we go to find
what really works? Join us for a new series called Business by the
Book: What You Won’t Learn From Harvard Business School. To-
gether, we’ll explore ten recent business bestsellers to glean biblical
truths that can apply to each of us.

We are all in some type of business, whether in the corporate world or

at home in the highest calling of all, parenting. This series provides
winning strategies and practical principles for the work God has en-
trusted to us.2

The number of questionable ideas in these few lines of ad copy is certainly

surprising.
According to the Second Baptist Church, economic success is practically guar-
anteed by attending ten classes that are drawn from ten popular business books
plus the Bible. If this teaching were true, then you would expect that the most suc-
cessful people in the world would be Christians. Grab a copy of Forbes or look on
the internet at the richest people worldwide, in the United States, or even in this
state. You will soon see that it is not just the Christians who have money. Mus-
lims, Jews, Hindus, and those who do not believe in God are well represented in
financially successful. The Bible itself even tells us that Christians are not always
well off. Recall that the disciples actually hurt their finances by abandoning their
boats and nets and following Jesus.
2
Anonymous, Doing Business by the Book, (http://www.second.org/global/
allcampus_temp.aspx, 2007).

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 Explicitly stated in the reason why parents should come to these classes at
Second Baptist Church is the promise of improvement. Maybe these mothers and
fathers hope that they will learn new ways of relating to their children. Perhaps
they are looking for practical tips on discipline. They could even be trying to dis-
cover new techniques on keeping their children in the church. In the final analysis,
it really does not matter what they are trying to learn. Everyone knows that no one
can master parenting in ten or ten thousand classes. Raising children is a life long
process where the parent and child learn from each other. Sometimes this exer-
cise comes together with results that are commendable and at other times, the
outcome is completely unpredictable with bad children coming from good homes
and vice-versa.
These specific issues with the “Doing Business by the Book” can be summa-
rized in one word “poppycock.” Second Baptist Church is giving us ideas that do
not hold up to practical reason. Perhaps it was a similar situation that prompted
Jesus to address today’s Gospel lesson to us.
In today’s reading, Jesus introduces us to an unbelievably rich man who re-
alizes that his manager is embezzling his funds (Luke 16:1). This rich individual
asks for the books so that he can really see what has happened to his money but
unfortunately he forgets to fire the manager on the spot (Luke 16:2) With precious
little time before he must turn over his master’s books, the dishonest manager,
once again uses financial power to get out of the situation that he finds himself
in. He shrewdly calls in two debtors hoping that they will remember him in the
future (Luke 16:3). He quickly reduces the first bill of about 1,000 gallons of olive

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oil in half and the second outstanding payment from about 1,100 bushels of the
wheat to 880 bushels (Luke 16:5-6).3 After telling this story to His disciples, Jesus
first commends the dishonest manager for his cleverness in the buisness world and
then Jesus chides His followers for not using their intelligence in matters of faith
(Luke 16:8).
Now, why is Jesus so upset with His followers? Could the reason be that they
along with the Pharisees and us are forgetting to use their God given brains? Here
are but three examples from Luke that make this seem extremely likely. Way back
in December we heard about the Jewish crowds who thought that their birthright
excused them from taking care of the less fortunate (Luke 3:7-18). In July, we
learned of the lawyer who could not figure out who his neighbor is (Luke 10:25-
37). Last week’s lesson taught us that the Pharisees were not able to identify the
lost (Luke 15:1-32). In our day and age, the story is exactly the same. The people
attending the ten sermons at Second Baptist are not using their intellect to see
that they are being feed ideas that are totally worthless. (Or as we would say it in
Texas, “They are being feed a bunch of bull.”)
In each of these different situations, Christ’s answer follows the same pattern.
Every time He requires us to use our intellect. “Understand the law,” He tells the
crowd. “A child of Abraham must take care of the poor, the widow, the orphan, and
the stranger.” Jesus reminds the lawyer to learn all of the Scriptures. The prophets
do not limit the neighbor to the man living next door. Because the Pharisees cannot
3
Arland J. Hultgren, Chap. Parables of Wisdom In ‘The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary’,
(William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), p. 150-151.

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conceive that the lost live among them, Jesus gives them the examples of the lost
sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son as ways of identifying those who need
God’s love. And for us and all those people who might attend the sermon series
at Second Baptist, Jesus provides us with universities that show us that being a
Christian does not equate with financial or parenting success.
Today’s parable is not about how the master’s money is misused, wasted, and
embezzled but instead how the manager used his natural intelligence when he
responded to the problem at hand. Jesus is telling us that our future here depends
on the actions that we take right now (Luke 16:3-4).
Just to remind everyone, when we critically think about our current situation
here at Trinity Lutheran and then act on it, this is work not by our own doing but
by the power of the Holy Spirit who strengthens us so that we can labor in God’s
field. As Lutherans, we believe and teach that these works do not save us since
salvation is God’s work and not ours but we do think these actions both help our
neighbor and train us to reject sin.4
I have heard the stories and seen the pictures of how this church used to be. At
one time, the pews in this nave were full of people. Many children filled our class-
rooms. Time has passed since then and what you see before you today represents
how it has been for the last year. Now we barely have one dozen people worship
God on a Sunday morning and we struggle to meet our monthly budget. It does
not take a rocket scientist to see that this way of living cannot go on forever. If just
4
Martin Luther; Timothy F. Lull, editor, Chap. The Freedom of a Christian In ‘Martin Luther’s
Basic Theological Writings’, (Fortress Press, 1976), p. 611.

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one family leaves the church, then we cannot pay our bills and we will be forced
to close the doors.
More than likey, the answer to our problem will not come from me. Even after
one year, I do not know enough about our specific situation to give a good answer
because I do not live and work here. In all probability, the solution to financial
problem will come from you. It might come in small pieces as it did in yesterday’s
bake sale or it could take a concerted effort on everyone’s part. No matter where
the answer comes from it must address the specific question, “How do we not just
survive but thrive as Christ’s body here in Liberty County?”
Continuing down the path that we are currently on will require us to shut this
church and frankly, this does not have to happen. God has given all of us wisdom.
Use it so that God’s Word can be heard throughout this county.
The combination of intellect and faith is one of the beautiful parts of the shared
Jewish and Christian tradition. The approach that has been used during all these
years really makes a lot of sense. We carefully look around and try our very best
to understand how we are to not only react to the problems around us but also to
be proactive and prevent the issues from occurring in the first place. What comes
next is just as practical. We learn from works and what does not. When we make
mistakes, as we certainly will, God will be there beside us to help us move to the
next problem that needs solving.
As Lutherans we can be proud of our almost five hundred year tradition of
following this parable and combining intellect with faith. In Europe, the author of
our Lutheran confessions Philipp Melanchthon wrote widely and his books were

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used in many different universities. In fact, Melanchthon’s influence was so wide
and so far, that students from all over Europe came to study at Wittenberg.5 This
same tradition has continued in the US. Our denomination supports twenty-eight
colleges, nine seminaries, and one extension center. Our work as Lutherans also
includes the application of practical knowledge in the world. We are members of
the Lutheran World Federation, which helps people around the world recover from
disasters and this group also promotes social justice through fair trade. Lutheran
Disaster Response, a ministry of the ECLA and the Missouri Synod, assists people
here in this country and might be best known for its work in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina.
The work that we do in this church and the many other Lutheran churches
around this nation are quite quiet by Second Baptist standards. All that this means
is that we devote our time and energy to those people who need our help rather
than wasting precious resources on advertisements that are not true.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”6

References

Anonymous, Doing Business by the Book, (http://www.second.org/

global/allcampus_temp.aspx, 2007).
5
Stefan Rhein, ‘The Influence of Melanchthon on Sixteenth-Century Europe’, Lutheran Quar-
terly, XII (1998):4, p. 384.
6
Philippians 4:7.

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Hultgren, Arland J., Chap. Parables of Wisdom In ‘The Parables of Jesus: A Com-
mentary’, (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), pp. 129–179.

Luther, Martin; Lull, Timothy F., editor, Chap. The Freedom of a Christian
In ‘Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings’, (Fortress Press, 1976),
pp. 585–629.

Rhein, Stefan, ‘The Influence of Melanchthon on Sixteenth-Century Europe’,

Lutheran Quarterly, XII (1998):4, pp. 383–394.