How do Christians behave — and does it really matter?

God is a good mood with you. And you see that when you look at Jesus.

But, if that’s true, if God’s already forgiven you, if you’ve already been made perfect because of Jesus… …then why bother behaving well at all? Doesn’t that make everything you do: good behaviour and bad — irrelevant?

In fact, if we receive this justified through faith—which is depending on Jesus alone—then if we do good things, won’t that tempt us to trust in ourselves rather than in Jesus?

As a church we distribute gift bags to the homeless in Manchester. Isn’t there a danger that, the more we do that, the more tempted we are to think “I’m a decent person, I’ve helped the poor, I’m not really that bad”

—doesn’t that pull me away from the cross rather than towards it?
—do good works actually damage faith in this way?

In church history, some people have even argued this.

Jesus understands those questions.

He knows the suspicion: that if forgiveness is free, then behaviour must not matter. And this part of the Gospel of Luke is shaped to help us understand his response.

Luke 15:1-2 tells us

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Since then, throughout chapter 15, Jesus has just been answering the Pharisees.

The Pharisees thought grace allows people to not bother trying to be good.

So Jesus told parables of grace—the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost sons—that showed God is in a good mood with people who are evil and make mistakes; and that salvation is all God’s work not ours.

But now in Luke 16, Jesus turns specifically to his disciples. He’s not defending grace to the Pharisees anymore; he’s explaining grace to the believers. And what Jesus does is unexpected.

He tells a story about a crooked accountant—and says: learn from him.

And from this story, Jesus teaches three things:

1. Christians behave in light of what’s really about to happen
2. Christians behave in light of what’s really valuable
3. On the last day, Christians’ behaviour will show the world God really had forgiven them all along

So, first,

1. Christians behave in light of what’s really about to happen

That’s the key message of this story, please look at vv. 1-7:

He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

The manager in Jesus’ story knows just one thing for certain: His job is over. His personal world is about to collapse.

So, he acts shrewdly in light of that immediate reality. He may be dishonest, but at least he knows what’s coming and acts accordingly.

And that’s Jesus challenge to us. Throughout the Bible Jesus says “I am coming soon”.

Literally the last two verses of the Bible say this, Rev 22:20-21:

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Jesus is returning, and he tells Christians to behave as though he could come back this very afternoon.

But IS that the way we behave?

Now, Jesus’ story is very unusual — totally weird, frankly. Because the main character is not a good guy.

Jesus explicitly tells us he is a dishonest manager. And that decision is deliberate.

Because, by making his main character dishonest, there is no way we’re going to make the mistake of moralising the parable.

That is exactly why Jesus sometimes tells his stories with these weird twists: So that we don’t misunderstand that Jesus was simply a great moral teacher. This story is anything but moral: it’s immoral.

The point is not to tell you to do nice things with your money: the point is to shock you into asking the question: “Do I really live as though Jesus could return later today?”

The world says: “Settle down, make your five-year plan, build your portfolio, secure your future.”

Jesus says: “Your future is already decided. The end of this world is certain. Behave in light of that.”

So, Christians behave in light of what’s really about to happen

And then because of this, secondly:

2. Christians behave in light of what’s really valuable

Please look at vv. 8-9 where Jesus himself explains the punch of his parable story:

The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

The master commends the manager’s shrewdness. Because he valued the things he had in light of the future.

Money in the hedge fund, numbers on the balance sheet—when you’re employed by the hedge fund, these figures mean everything to you—but if you’re about to be fired, they have no value to you any more.

And so it goes for us who live in this life, given that Jesus is coming back any moment. Money, possessions, reputation, status… All of these wonderful temporal gifts are exactly that: …temporal gifts that are just on loan to us, whose only value is in how they can serve the cause of love.

What mattered to the manager was securing relationships that would carry over past his firing.

And Christians should have exactly the same attitude now.

Christians behave in light of what’s really valuable

Jesus says that’s the difference between “the sons of this world” and “the sons of light.”

The world knows how to be clever when it comes to human futures: pension pots, mortgages, career ladders, investments.

But we — children of light — know what really lies ahead. We know what’s truly valuable because the end of the world really is nigh. Will we be clever in light of that?

Money, possessions, career, reputation, all the stuff we cling to? Jesus calls it “unrighteous wealth.” Unrighteous because nothing in the world is truly just. But, also unrighteous because it can’t truly be relied upon.

It will fail. It cannot last. Its only real value is in how we can use it for the kingdom.

When we give, when we support, when we share, when we provide—That’s not wasted. Then, it’s invested in eternity.

And so finally, Jesus says:

3. On the last day, Christians’ behaviour will show the world God really had forgiven them all along

Look at v. 9 again one last time:

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Here’s what it means: the people you love now with the temporal things you have will tell the whole world about what you did in the next life.

Now, let’s just clarify what Jesus is not saying: He doesn’t say our good works will prove anything to God. That is the Roman Catholic error.

God is already in a good mood with you, because of Jesus.

At the gates of heaven, God won’t check how you behaved to see if you deserve to get in. He already knows you don’t deserve it. But He’s already decided to treat you as perfect because of Jesus.

But, also Jesus doesn’t say our good works will prove anything to ourselves either. That is the Reformed error. The idea that I need to look at myself and examine to see if there’s evidence of faith or not.

No — our assurance rests in Christ, not in our behaviour.

When we look at ourselves the only thing we see is sin and death. Christians look away from ourselves to Christ, to our Baptism, to the Supper, to the cross.

But, our good works do prove something to the world, both now, and on the last day.

In John 3:21 Jesus says:

“whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

And as priests whose role it is in 1 Peter 2:9:

to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light

—in other words to tell people the Gospel—as Peter goes on to explain in v. 12:

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

So, the good things you do have practical value now, but also on the last day:

When the nations are gathered, when everything is revealed, our lives will stand as evidence to the world that God had indeed forgiven us all along, that his grace was not empty.

Our behaviour will shine as the outward sign that we belonged to Jesus from the beginning.

Faith looks upward at Jesus.

Love looks outward at others. And on the last day, those others who received our love, will shout about it from the rooftops.

So, How do Christians behave — and does it really matter?

Yes, God is already in a good mood with us. Yes, we are justified by faith alone. But, that doesn’t mean our love for others, our good works, have no value or meaning.

Christians behave in light of what’s really about to happen

Christ will return any moment. “Your kingdom come” is something we pray every day.

and Christians behave in light of what’s really valuable

All the riches of this life: money, career, status, reputation …all of these are fleeting, temporary, and passing away. If you rely on these things, you’ll find they’re treacherous friends, they’ll fail you sooner or later.

So, spend these unrighteous riches on something that will last, because…

On the last day, Christians’ behaviour will show the world God really had forgiven them all along

Good works prove nothing to God—Rome is wrong about that.

Good works prove nothing to ourselves—the Reformed are wrong about that.

But good works prove to the world that God is good and that God has been good to us.

They show that now. But they’ll especially show that on the last day.

So, keep looking at Christ: for boldness before God and assurance in your faith, and put that faith into practice in works of love this week.