Jesus' Parables about money (5)

The Shrewd Manager...

This morning, we’re going to look at a story Jesus told about a corrupt manager, and yet he was commended by his boss.

Before we do this, I’d like to start with a story called,

“BUYER’S REMORSE AND A DEAD DONKEY”

A city boy, Kenny, moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died." Kenny replied, "Well then, just give me my money back." The farmer said, "Can’t do that. I went and spent it already." Kenny said, "OK, then, just unload the donkey." The farmer asked, "What ya gonna do with him?" Kenny replied, "I’m going to raffle him off." Farmer, "You can’t raffle off a dead donkey!" Kenny, "Sure I can. Watch me." A month later the farmer met up with Kenny and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?" Kenny, "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00. "Farmer, "Didn’t anyone complain?"

Kenny, "Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back." No one likes to be scammed. When we buy something, especially something of any worth we often come down with something called buyer’s remorse. -Todd Catteau

Tony Dungy once said, “"Character begins with the little things in life. We must show that we can be trusted with even the trivial things."

Reputation is what others, think of you, but your character is who you really are.

Sometimes we may try to cut corners, and think that nobody will notice or even care, but we are developing important character traits, that will last a lifetime.

Here’s the good news: It’s never too late to start. Even if you have a bad reputation, even if you have lost trust. It can still be rebuilt by walking in integrity and character that pleases God.

My question this morning is this,

How can we use God’s resources effectively?

Let’s look today’s Scripture:

Luke 16:1–9 NLT

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. 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.’ “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. 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 owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’ “ ‘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.’ “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. Here’s 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.

Let’s start with

The Shrewd Manager...

Jesus tells a story about a manager whose termination was imminent, and it was going to have repercussions as to his ability to have future employment.

I don’t think that resumes and references were common practice in Jesus’ day, but bad news travels fast.

Bad news came to the employer that his manager to whom had been given much responsibilty as well as latitude as to how the business was run, had been misusing the boss’s money.

No boss or business wants to receive news that somebody you trust had broken trust. I’m not sure whether or not he had embezzled any of the funds but what he had done was serious enough to fire this employee.

What would this manager do?

(Thoughts from LANTC)

He was in a tough spot. He was going to lose his job, his income, his financial security, and how would he take care of himself were on the line.

He wasn’t able to do the hard work anymore. He wasn’t able or he was unwilling to run a shovel, and he was too proud to beg for money.

We might think that we have security in our society, but many people live from pay cheque to pay cheque.

Unemployment only goes so far. The cost of living seems to keep creeping up. It’s not hard to notice as we go to stores, and we have to make tough decisions as to what we really need and what can wait for another time.

Just to bring you up to date on our Food bank. Numbers are climbing as more people struggle to try to feed themselves and their families.

So…this manager has a decision to make. He has to come up with a plan to make sure that he is taken care of after his job is gone.

Here’s the plan,

Call in all accounts

and offer a deal for quick settlement.

To the one he offered half price. Instead of paying for 800 gallons, roughly 3000 liters, you can pay for 1500 liters.

To the other, it was at 25% off. Instead of paying for 1000 bushels of wheat, you can pay for 800 bushels.

In today’s standards, this doesn’t seem like much. We have equipment that makes the job so easy, but imagine the hard work to make 1500 liters of olive oil or 200 bushels of wheat by hand.

It was a true door crasher deal.

I’ll be completely honest, if I was the owner, I wouldn’t be impressed. I’d maybe be thinking that this servant had not only taken advantage of me in the past, but he was also taking advantage of me now.

I’m not sure if these were bad accounts that maybe were in arrears, but this servant was thinking ahead, because he was thinking of the principle of reciprocity, which means one good turn deserves another.

By reducing the debt, the master had no power to collect anything more, because it was paid in full. This isn’t where it ends. Those who owed the master, now owed this manager a good turn. He was banking on their integrity and their kindness to help him out when he was in need.

Jesus made a statement that we should pay attention to:

Luke 16:8 (NLT)

“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.

This man was a steward. He was a manager. It wasn’t his money, but Jesus said that unbelievers are more shrewd with their dealings in this world than children of the light, Christ followers.

This man was going to make sure that he was no going to starve, but that somebody was going to take care of him.

It was a different time. It was a different culture. There was a certain kind of loyalty that people had towards each other. I’m not so sure that if I had done this, at the Feed Store where I worked that this would have done me any favours.

Jesus said,

Here’s the lesson...

Luke 16:9 (NLT)

...Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends...

What’s the lesson?

Use your worldly resources, your wealth to benefit others and make friends...

Be generous...

I told you a few weeks ago that I might use a little of Dave Ramsey’s resources. Well, here’s a little Ramsey. This isn’t Bible, but there are some principles that we can learn from.

If you ever watch TV, eventually, you will hear an ad about your credit score and how valuable it is. You’ll hear ads that ask you questions like, “What’s in your wallet?” We are inundated with ads about our need to buy a new vehicle and how great of an investment they are.

I’m still learning, but one thing that I am learning, is

Proverbs 22:7 NIV

The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.

Proverbs 6:1–5 NLT

My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger— if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said— follow my advice and save yourself, for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased. Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do. Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.

Once we have signed our names on the dotted line, we are bound to what we have signed until it is paid. You have heard me say, “we.”

I’m not pointing fingers at anybody but myself. I understand that there are times that debt may be necessary in business, but we must realize that once we have signed our name, we are bound to that agreement.

Why do I bring this up today? Sometimes the decisions that we make limit or even prevent us from doing what we believe that God has called us to do.

We really want to give, but we can’t. We want to be generous, but we have committed to the mortgage, or the car payment, or even to the credit card debt.

My prayer is that God gives each of us the ability to be generous. Never stop giving, but giving needs to come off the top, save what you can, and let the rest of the budget determine what we really need in your life.

Matthew 6:19–21 NLT

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

As Christians, when we give, we are sending our treasure ahead. It will not spoil. It can’t be stolen. It cannot fade away.

Remember, when we give to the poor, we lend to the Lord and He will repay.

Let’s read the last few verses of our text.

Luke 16:10–13 NLT

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own? “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”

Be faithful in the little things...

It’s the little foxes that spoil the vines.

Let’s be faithful to what God has called us.

As we desire to do the will of God, as we walk in step with the Holy Spirit, faithfulness will grow in us. It has to. It is a fruit of the Spirit.

Paul admonished the church in Thessalonica in

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 NLT

Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.

God is the God who sees. He wants to bless you with more responsibilities. He wants to make your tent larger, but it doesn’t just come from praying that God will give us more money, more possessions, a better job.

It comes from being faithful in the small things. I’m not telling you this, this is what Jesus said.

If we can’t handle what we have, why should we have more? If we aren’t faithful to manage what God has placed in our hands, why would He give us more responsibility?

It’s true that not everybody has the same abilities, but as you are faithful, God will equip you to do His will.

If you were given more money, what would you do with it? How would you spend it?

If you were given more responsibility, what would you do with it?

I wanted my boss to see that I had done something when he came and saw my work. If the floor needed to be swept, I swept it. If feed needed to be bagged I bagged it. If a customer needed to be served, I tried to do it with excellence.

Colossians 3:23–24 NIV

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

I’m sure the crowds hung to every word as Jesus taught principles of stewardship.

Faithfulness seems to be a big principle with God.

Luke 16:11 NLT

And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?

John Wooden, who was probably the winningest coach in college basketball said,

“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation.

Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” - (Swindoll, Sanctity of Life p91).

God who sees us when nobody is around, will reward us openly. We don’t have to push doors open. God will open your door when the time is right. So often we may think that we need to help God out. He knows when we are ready, and as we seek Him, we will see the door in our life that He is opening, and be ready to walk through when the door opens.

Life Application New Testament Commentary Jesus Tells the Parable of the Shrewd Manager / 16:1–18 / 162

Trustworthiness goes to a person’s very core.

Let’s be faithful where we are planted. God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or even imagine according to His power that works in us.

Be faithful in the small things. Be faithful with what God has given you.

Now the war that rages in our culture is

God vs money

Luke 16:13 NLT

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”

Money is amoral. It is neither good nor bad. In the hands of the righteous it can do great things, but it can cause tragedy in the hands it rules.

I started with a question that I want to end with,

How can we use God’s resources effectively?

God has blest us with time, talents, and treasure. We can’t waste the resources that God has given us and not be called to give an account. This is the story of the shrewd manager.

Let’s use what we have. Let’s use what God has entrusted in our care, whether our abilities, our time, and yes our money.

I’m not questioning whether or not you or I have worked hard to get what we have, but even in that, it’s still the Lord’s.

Our health, without God protecting us and giving us the strength that we have, where would we be.

Each of us have been given 24 hours in each day, and God’s mercies are new each and every day. Let’s walk in these mercies.

Our abilities, we can’t even take credit for that. There’s no question that we don’t all excel at the same things. God has given you abilities that I don’t have, steward those abilities, and use them for the Lord.

Our money, even that is the Lord’s. It’s God who blesses us. It is God that opens up opportunities for us to work. It’s God that gives us the health and strength to work. Even in our investments, it is God that causes them to succeed. We might be smart with our money, but even smart people lost everything when the stock market crashed.

Let’s fix our hope on Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Let’s not build on sinking sand.

We can’t serve two masters. Let’s love Jesus with all that we are. Let’s follow Him earnestly, and be devoted to Him completely.

Let’s pray!