Sermon Tone Analysis

Little things matter in life / Trust is built or lost / one small decision at a time

In our English language / we have coined the phrase “trust is BROKEN / Interesting choice of words / Why do we say it has been broken?

We recognize that trust is delicate / it needs care / attention / Much like a fine piece of pottery / when trust breaks / it either takes a long time to repair / or at times / it’s not possible at all

We have all heard the stories of professors / teachers who have abused their place of power / entered into more than just questionable situations (illegal) broke trust of entire communities

We’ve heard companies who have stolen customers monies / closed shop / Investment management schemes / stealing peoples hard earned money

We know people who have abused children / or simply were not there for them when they needed them most / done things to break trust

The teenager who can’t be trusted / because the many lies

The employee fired for not being trustworthy / show up on time / work honest days work / complete task given

Did you know before you can get a job at a bank / they check your credit / to see if you can be trusted around money?

We’ve all got stories or have heard stories like these / Trust is one of those pillars of life that helps keep the world going ‘round / Trust is such a large piece of our existence

We trust that the sun will come up tomorrow / we trust that there will be enough oxygen, water, and food.

/ As you were driving here / You trusted that people would obey traffic signs / Trust is a currency that we’re all familiar with / even if it’s not something that we think about very often.

So, with that in mind, when's the last time you thought about trusting God? / Something we talk about regularly / How God can be trusted / Given the chaotic insane world we live in / it’s something we have to rely on more & more / But here’s the real question of the day

Can God trust you?

Our passage today has a lot to do with trust… Where it’s placed, where it’s misplaced, and what can happen when trust is broken

We are going to look at The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

Luke 16:1-13, Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.

2 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.’

3 “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— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors.

He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘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.’

7 “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.’

8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.

For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

13 “No one can serve two masters.

Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.”

With this scripture in mind / I want to consider / Can God Trust You?

I. Little Things Matter

A. This is a difficult topic to get a grip on / Many of us have trust issues

1.

You don’t trust others / Don’t look at me like that / there a people in your life you don’t trust!

/ Some for good reason

a. Several more sitting here / you know better / you don’t even trust yourself / so how could God trust what we don’t?

2. Always amazes me / How God’s plan was / AND continues to be / one where he uses fallible people like you and I to build HIS church / share HIS gospel / be ambassadors of reconciliation to a lost and hurting world

a. He’s been using imperfect people for thousands of years / and as we unpack this / we are going to see / he’s got a few things to say about why trust matters just as much today as it did two thousand years ago

1. Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.

2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you?

B. Sounds like this manager is in some trouble… and sounds like He’s got some explaining to do

1.

But what is it / specifically that he did?

a.

How do you think the rich man came to be so fed up with him?

‘What is this I hear about you?

b.

Chances are pretty good that it wasn’t just one thing / but many little things added up together

i. Chances are that the rich man had finally heard one too many bad stories about his manager and it pushed him over the edge.

Sound familiar to anyone here today?

/ If you’re a parent, it’s possible you have you felt this way about your kid / lied one to many times about their whereabouts / If you’re a business owner, or a manager yourself, I have no doubt you have had this experience / an employee who can’t be trusted

Have you ever been the one in trouble?

Ever been the one to push a parent / boss / spouse / your pastor / over the edge?

ii.

It’s not usually one thing / but many little things that get people to the “end of their rope.”

2. Listen to words of some famous people / what they even say about trust

“Don’t trust the person who has broken faith once.”

– William Shakespeare “Love all, trust a few.”

“Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it’s broken, but you can still see the crack in that persons reflection.”

– Lady Gaga

“If you have three people in your life that you can trust, you can consider yourself the luckiest person in the whole world.”

– Selena Gomez

“It's hard to tell who has your back, from who has it long enough just to stab you in it….” – Nicole Richie

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”

– Albert Einstein

a.

And as much as these first couple of verses give us some context / and characters for the parable / they also introduce the main point / Little things matter!

As a mother or father / whether or not your children trust you / not one grand moment in time of being there / It’s many moments week after week / Lose trust by running late picking them up from practice over and over / coming home late every night / putting them second / Many small decisions / telling them you will take them to the park to play catch / then being tired not doing it

3. Little things add up / both positively and negatively

a. Sometimes we find ourselves saying exactly what the shrewd manager did, “What shall I do now?”

II.

Relationships

3 “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— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors.

He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘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.’

7 “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.’

A. Quick Thinking

1. Upon a quick review of his potential employment options the manager makes a hasty decision to do some creative accounting with his bosses debtors

a.

He leverages his present network for his own future safety and security

b.

His assumption is that if he cuts enough deals and extends enough favors that he will have a backlog of favors that he can call in when the going gets tough

2. Interestingly enough / his cunning shrewdness / somewhat deceptive decisions (which are probably the same things that got him into trouble in the first place) / But at this point, he’s leaning on his abilities / trying to figure a way out / Which, amazingly, he does… and even more amazingly, his wealthy boss commends him for it.

8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.

For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

B. What a weird turn of events

1.

The dishonest manager cuts potential profits away from his boss / but then he’s praised for it?

a.

Ever read things / think Maybe Jesus has gotten his parables mixed up… Maybe He’s tired from all the teaching and traveling and this parable just doesn’t land the same way His others do….

i.