What does the word “shrewd” mean to you? If someone were to call you shrewd, how many of you would say that’s a compliment? How many would say it’s an insult? Want to know what Jesus thinks about shrewdness? Quote the whole passage. Luke 16:1­9 (NLT) 1​Jesus told this story to his disciples: ​“There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. ​2​So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’ 3​“The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. ​4​Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’ ​
5​“So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ ​6​The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told ​
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him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.​
’ 7​“‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.​b’ 1 8​“The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light.​9​Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.​c What a story! Let us pray. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. May your kingdom come and your will be done here today. We are about to consider this crazy story that your Son told us. And though I’ve prepared the best I know how for this day, I know it’s not enough. So will you let us hear from you today? I tremble when I realize that these are the very words spoken by the son of God who loved us so much, and wanted so much for us to be reconciled to you, that he offered his life as the sacrifice that makes us right with you. If there had been some other way, he would’ve taken it, but since this was the only way, he willingly went to a cross for us. As the ultimate expression of his love. 2 And in our disbelief, our answer to your great love was the hate crime of hanging him on that Roman torture rack. There your son hung by mutual consent. His love and our hate met in his body on that tree. And wonder of wonders, instead of snuffing us out as we deserved, you accepted Him as our substitute. You punished your son for my sin. For our sin. Though his sacrifice for our sin demanded his life, [Acts 2:24] you released him from death and raised him back to life, because death could not keep your son in its grip. He destroyed the sting of death for us all. And now we all can look forward to a great reunion, to being in your presence forevermore. Because at that cross you rescued us. Not like we might rescue a pet. But you restored us to yourself and made us into sons and daughters of God. Children of the heavenly king. As your word speaks, Lord, disable the distractions that are competing for our attention today. When we’re tempted to check out facebook, check out our neighbor, or just plain check out, instead give us ears to hear the words of Jesus, the words of heaven. Give us a heart that is hungry to hear from you, and humble to accept direction from you. 3 Give us the courage and conviction and creativity to respond as you teach us the words of Jesus, the words of heaven. We await eagerly at your feet. May your kingdom come and your will be done this moment in this place. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen ~~~ Jesus loves to tell stories with unlikely and unlikable characters to teach the most profound lessons. In today’s story, he uses a dishonest manager to teach about the importance of being shrewd. Jesus told this story to his disciples: There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs Being a manager in the house of a rich man is a high position. Joseph in the book of Genesis was a manager in the house of Potiphar. Here’s how he describes his position to Mrs. Potiphar in Genesis 39:8­9 ­ ​“Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. 9No one here has more authority than I do.” Joseph is right. The New Testament Greek word translated manager is ​oikonomos, literally, “the law of the house”. What he says, goes. He manages the entire 4 estate. He negotiates the contracts with the suppliers. He basically takes care of everything so the rich man is freed up to do whatever he wants to do. One important way the oikonomos is different from managers of today is that he is resident on his employer’s estate. As the employer prospers, his salary is his just reward. But if the estate declines, the manager had to tighten his belt too. And if worse comes to worst, if the manager loses his job, he also loses his home. You and I are like this manager in that we are not the owners of our lives, or our stuff. We are managers of the resources God has put in our control. And just like Joseph told Mrs. Potiphar, we can say, “Look, everything I have is really God’s. And he trusts me to manage it for him.” We have the high honor of being the oikonomos in the household of God. That’s huge! I don't know if you've ever thought of it this way, but every time you write a check, every time you put something on your calendar, you are acting as a manager in the household of God. So let’s watch and see what we can learn from this story. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. I imagine that a disgruntled coworker of the manager saw how he was taking good care of himself using the rich 5 man’s money, but all around him, the owner’s estate wasn’t doing as well. He put two and two together, and so we get a 1st­century whistleblower. How could someone as richly blessed as this manager get to a place where he’d waste his employer’s money? I believe this manager lost his focus. Maybe he was distracted by the trappings of wealth. Maybe he felt under­appreciated. For whatever reason, he just quit caring about his main job. It’s important to know that the manager didn’t break any laws. He was the ​oikonomos, the law of the house. He had full discretion in how to invest the owner’s wealth. Any choice he makes is permissible. He was wasteful, but he was not swindling. He was careless, but he wasn’t malicious. You’ve seen something like this in high school. It’s called “senioritis”. Seniors are at the top of the heap. They think they’ve paid their dues and they’ve had enough. So they skip classes, they party, and have an “I don’t care” attitude. They’ve lost focus. They’ve quit caring. You’ve probably seen something like it in the workplace. They’ve coined the term “retired in place” to describe an employee who’s nearing his last day of work, so he barely does enough to get by. He’s lost focus. He’s quit caring. 6 You’ve probably seen it in church. Men and women and young people saved by the amazing grace of God who become complacent, elevating their own affairs­­like sports, work, leisure­­above the great commission. They’ve lost focus. They’ve quit caring. The employer called him in and said, “What is this I hear about you? Get your report in order because you are going to be fired.” Can you imagine how disappointed­­even betrayed­­the employer felt when it dawned on him how his friend the manager had lost his heart for his mission and was just using his privileged place to take care of himself? “What is this I hear about you??” I’ve put my entire estate into your hands and you act like you own it. Get your report in order because you’re going to be fired. He needs the manager to audit his books so he can get a sense of how bad the damage is. It’s lucky for the manager that the employer requires this audit, because that gives the manager a few weeks to figure out what to do about his situation. The Bible says that one day the books will be opened and we’ll all be judged according to the things written in the books. (Rev 20:12) 7 The manager thought to himself, “Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches. And I’m too proud to beg.” The manager realizes that his reputation is ruined. And with a ruined reputation, no one would hire him for this kind of job again.That must’ve been uppermost in his mind as he was considering his alternatives. One alternative is to start over. To be a day laborer. But his years as a manager have made him too soft for hard work like digging ditches. That’s out. If he can’t work, can he turn to the life of a beggar? Can you imagine one of your managers at work standing at the corner of Governor’s and the Parkway with “Will Work for Food. God bless you” scrawled on a piece of cardboard. That’s preposterous. The man says “I’m too proud to beg.” And I believe he puzzled long and hard before he finally has the eureka moment. In the process of getting his report in order, he discovered something­­there were quite a few people who owed a lot of money to his boss. So he comes up with a brilliant plan: Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired. ​So he invited each person who money to his employer to 8 come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, “How much do you owe him?” [gulp] “I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.” Put yourself in the shoes of this oil man. A year ago, you and this manager had drawn up a contract for 800 gallons of olive oil at a certain price. The manager paid you up front. Now your shipment is due but this was a terrible year. For you to ship 800 gallons of oil, you are going to have to dip into saving and spend a lot more money to buy more oil from more people in order to fulfill the order. When you get the summons to come and talk to this manager to discuss the situation, I’ll bet you’d be pretty anxious. After admitting he owed 800 gallons, I’ll bet this oil dealer is cringing as he waits for what’s about to come next. So the manager told him, “Take your bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.” “Listen pal, I know this has been a lean year all over. With the drought and the pests, I think we drove too hard of a bargain. My employer is very understanding. Let’s make it more reasonable. And let’s just hope for a better crop next year. Deal?” 9 This is so different from what the oil man was expecting. He went into that meeting expecting the worst, and instead of getting chewed out, the manager lightens his load. He can’t believe his good fortune. “Wow. Just wow. I really appreciate your understanding. I was going to take a bath in red ink this year. I owe you, friend. If there’s any way I can return the favor, just ask.” And the oil man leaves that meeting with a lighter heart. He tells his wife and friends and business associates, “How gracious and generous the rich man and his manager are. Some of the best men you’ll find anywhere!” And in a matter of days, he delivers the oil. The manager does it again. “And how much do you my employer?” he asked the next man. “I owe him 1000 bushels of wheat” was the reply. “Here”, the manager said, “take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.” And just like with the oil man, the wheat trader goes home with a much higher opinion of the manager than when he showed up at the meeting. “Let me know how I can repay you. You’ve been such a good friend.” What does the rich man think of all this? 10 The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. Isn’t that wild?? I think we get ​some relief by the fact that the word “rascal” was a word choice made by the NLT translators. The original Greek has “unrighteous manager”. The manager is dishonest/unrighteous because he’s really been fired, but the vendors don’t know that. And, the manager is dishonest because he’s being manipulative, not really being a friend. Again, the manager didn’t break any laws. So while the owner might not be too happy with the deals, he took the whole thing philosophically. He said, “You’ve got to hand it to him. He’s a shrewd one. I mean, when the chips were down, he knew how to make the best of the situation.” The manager had figured out that by spending a little money to benefit others, they’ll feel cared for and even beholden to him. And so when the manager finally does turn in his report and packs up his household, he has plenty of friends who are willing to give him a home. Jesus isn’t commending this man’s morals. But he IS commending his shrewdness. And then, Jesus says this: 11 It’s true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. The children of this world are people for whom this world is what they're all about. When you really believe “He who dies with the most toys wins”, or if you have a Darwin fish on your car, or if you have the philosophy, “Life is tough. Then you die.” Then you’re a child of this world. Jesus says they’re savvy at getting what they want. OTOH, Jesus said of us that we are the light of the world. He said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” And so God’s kingdom is what we're supposed to be all about. Jesus says that we get a D in shrewdness. There isn’t a spiritual gift of “shrewd”. It’s a character trait. And by telling this story, He is saying, “Wanted: good men and women with THIS man’s business sense.” One of the reasons that I believe that the church is a divine institution is that it has lasted for almost 2000 years, in spite of shoddy business practices. Look at the way you and I “go into all the world and make disciples” and compare that to the man in business. A man in business makes it a point to study his product. He gets 12 to know it and know it well. And he studies the consumer to understand how that product can meet that consumer’s need. And then he hires the artist to prepare a campaign. And he gets on the radio and TV. He makes phone calls, writes letters, takes people out to lunch, has them home for dinner. He does all that and more in order to make the sale. Compare all of that to the way we go out after the prodigal son. We give a man a tract and we think he’s evangelized. Give him a book and we think we’ve gone the second mile. Get into one conversation that ends up in a dry gulch and we’re convinced that the man just isn’t one of the elect. I mean, we quit where a corporation worth its salt just begins. We don’t invest the same kind of thought in winning men as we do to playing a game of Monopoly with our kids on a Saturday night. We don’t invest the same kind of thought in winning men as we did to winning our girlfriends in order to make them our wives. And the message of this passage is very pertinent. When Jesus is talking to his disciples, he’s saying it’s not enough to be good. It’s not enough to be dedicated. If you’re going to be a disciple of his, you must also be shrewd. 13 And this manager demonstrated his shrewdness in one particular way. That is, he understood the value of friends. Jesus underlines that in v 9, when he says, This is the lesson. Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. Just as this unjust steward makes friends who will help him after he was fired, you and I are to make friends for eternity. When I first became a Christian, I used to hear preachers tell me I should “store up riches in heaven”. That sounded like a good idea, but I wasn’t quite sure how to do it. In this passage, Jesus tells us exactly how to do it. The best way to store up treasure in heaven is to invest your money in people who are going there. Make friends who will welcome you to an eternal home. Use your position. Use your possesions in life to make eternal friendships. And you ought to do it because you and I are this manager in a few ways. We’re like him first of all in that what we have is given to us to use, but it’s not given to us to keep. It was given to us to invest, but it was not given to us forever. So we ought to be aware of the fact that everything God has 14 given us has been given as a trust from His hands to be used with spiritual purposes. That little boy who was on his way to Sunday School clutching two quarters in his hand demonstrated that even though he was going to Sunday School, he wasn’t yet a complete theologian. One of the quarters was for candy and the other was for the offering. As he crossed the street he tripped and fell and one of the quarters rolled out of his hand and went kaplunk down into the sewer. The little boy looked up and said, “Well God, there goes your quarter.” What he really needed to know was that BOTH of those quarters belonged to God. That everything he had came to him as a trust and was to be used wisely and prudently and shrewdly. And we’re like that manager in that what we have has been LENT to us, not GIVEN to us. And secondly, we’re like him in that all that we have has an expiration date. We will not keep it forever. The man who’s wise, who knows he will give it up, is going to invest it shrewdly. That’s the Lord’s words. In a day of an inflationary economy when the stock market has been going up and down like a yoyo, the best investment you can make is not in bank accounts or in real estate or in 15 silver or in gold. The best investment you can make is in friends who will welcome you to an eternal home. And thirdly, we’re like him in that, our lives are far from perfect. We haven’t made the best use of God’s resources up to this moment. We dare not wait until we’ve got it all together before we start doing what’s right. The time to respond is now. If you’re going to be a disciple of his, it’s not enough to be good. It’s not enough to have a warm heart and be dedicated. If you’re really going to be a disciple of his, you must also be shrewd. Use your position. Use your possessions to make friends that will welcome you into an eternal home. How might we use our resources to make friends for eternity? ­I’ve heard stories of people who select or even write really good gospel tracts and, when they go out to lunch, they tip their server by putting a really great tip into that tract. That doesn’t just happen. It requires thought, preparation, and a willingness to spend money you could be using for other things. ­I’ve heard of Christian business people who invite friends to a message and steak dinner put on by Christian professional organizations, and they completely sponsor their meal. 16 ­I’ve heard of folks who freely give of their time and money to help others in need so they can show the love of God and open the door for the good news of Jesus. ­People go on mission trips on their own dime, adopt orphans, work in disaster relief, teach GA’s, and on and on. It all starts with focusing on the mission, and then investing the thought and resources to achieving that mission, and not stopping until we’ve accomplished the mission. This is the lesson. Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. Disciples don't make themselves. You aren't here because you're more clever or more decent than your neighbor who's not in church today. You're here because someone took initiative and spent their time and money to invite you into a relationship with Christ. Will you trust and follow Jesus enough, will you love your neighbor enough to be that person in someone else's life? Use your position. Use your possessions. Make friends for eternity. There’s no better investment you can make. 17 Let us stand. And prayer partners will you come forward? Here’s the invitation to you. You may say, I feel moved to respond, but I don’t know how. If you’re willing to talk about it after the service, please come up here and let’s talk after the service. OTOH, if you know exactly how God wants you to respond, if he wants you to respond in a public way, will you do that this morning while we sing? 18