Earn All You Can

1st in the Sermon Series: Looking Upward in an Uncertain Economy
“Earn All You Can” - Luke 16:1-9 (10-13)
Sermon Series … from John Wesley’s Sermon # 50 “On Money” which is where we get the often quoted:

Earn all you can,
Save all you can,
Give all you can.

{You can read Wesley’s entire sermon at: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/50/ <>This is a good site to explore other sermons and resources}

Wesley encourages us to, as he says: "Gain all you can by honest industry. Use all possible diligence in your calling."
Why gain all we can? Not for our own benefit, that's for sure.
Instead, we should do it because money is a precious tool from God. As Wesley says in his sermon: "In the hands of God’s children, [money] is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty.... By it we may supply the place of a husband to the widow and of a father to the fatherless ... yea, [it is] a lifter up from the gates of death!" –(JW-Sermon 50)
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As we think about being good stewards in our Stewardship Series, we need to remind ourselves that the chief duty of a steward is to be faithful—even in small things.
Fred Craddock vividly catches the force of the interpretive saying in v. 10 of the reading today:
“Most of us will not this week christen a ship, write a book, end a war, appoint a cabinet, dine with a queen, convert a nation, or be burned at the stake. More likely the week will present no more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, vote for a county commissioner, teach a Sunday school class, share a meal, tell a child a story, go to choir practice, and feed the neighbor’s cat. “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much” (v. 10).

So, as we focus on stewardship for the next few weeks, we are challenged by this parable and by John Wesley to see how it is that we call use all our talents and abilities to be faithful and do and earn all we can so that we can give all we can.
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If you would like to see Wesley’s commentary on Luke 16: 1-13 go to:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/notes.i.iv.xvii.html