That’s the Plan

Priorities

Here’s a fun place to begin this morning. Did you remember your taxes were due Friday?

If your taxes and insurance are wrapped up in your mortgage payment, you don’t have to worry about writing 1 or 2 big checks during the year. But, if you don’t escrow, and you are responsible for your taxes and insurance, then you’ve got to have the money in your account to be able to pay them.

1 or 2 payments for your taxes. And a big check for your homeowners insurance.

And, they keep going up. The tax man found out our property values went up. We are getting almost ridiculous amounts of money for our houses and cabins here. Still around $400/foot. Fortunately, the tax man hasn’t hit us w/ that value, yet. But still.

And, there are a couple of big ticket things going on in the community that we need to do and we pay them in our property tax bill. The sewer system had been neglected for too long and now we have a big repair coming. And, the bond for the new fire station. We may not like the bill we have to pay. But we want or firefighters to be safe and well-taken care of.

But, if you’re not planning for these things, then it just gets worse w/ penalties and interest. We can’t just throw together money like this for a bill like that overnight. We’ve got to budget for it. It’s a priority.

And, we’ve got to budget and plan for the big monthly priorities, like the mortgage, utilities, groceries. If they have regular due dates, then they better be in your calendar. And the money better be in your account. Not paying these things on time makes the bill even worse.

And speaking of groceries, it you have restrictive diet anything like mine you better have a plan. Sara has worked hard to figure out what I need to have in the house and how to prepare it. If we don’t plan for this, long-term I end up in dialysis. If we get lazy, and I don’t watch what I’m supposed to watch, I will get behind and it will be much harder to catch up.

If we end up in a situ where there is nothing in the house that I can eat, I can’t just run down to Kota’s or Agee’s and get something. There is nothing on either of their menus that wouldn’t hurt me.

Too much sodium, too much protein. Everything has salt.

So, in order to not let the bad outcome happen, we have to have a plan and stick to it.

And, dialysis will take over my life. If i want any freedom at all, I’ve got to do all that I can to avoid this. 3 days/week for 6 hours/day. This is a huge priority for us to make sure it gets done right.

All the big things we want to do, or have to do, we must have a plan to get them done. You want to go on vacations? The bigger ones are not cheap.

You want to retire? That’s not cheap! Every month we’ve got to be disciplined to put some money away so that one day we’ll be able to retire and live off of what we saved.

Our houses, things break. Appliances wear out. Roofs wear out and leak. Pipes break. If you need a new washing machine, we’d all appreciate it if you’d go out and get one.

For most of these things, if we are not prepared to pay them and can’t, then there are quick consequences. The tax man sends another bill. The bank reminds you they own your house, they are just letting you live in it as long as you make the payments. No one will sit w/ you in church if you haven’t washed your clothes in a few weeks.

And Jesus wants us to know we have another priority that needs to be in our budget and on our calendar if it’s going to get done right and on time.

As a follower of Jesus, serving God means we will be generous and faithful with God’s stuff to help others. That’s why He lets us use His stuff while we’re here.

We are stewards of God’s stuff. That means, He owns everything. We get to manage the stuff of his that He lets us use while we’re here.

We’re not taking it with us when we leave this life. Our stuff will out last all of us.

We don’t have any offering police. We don’t send a bill to remind you. And the consequences of not paying the right amount on time are a little hard to nail down. But God will remind you from time to time. All we have are 2 really nice guys standing at the doors holding baskets as you leave. That’s a little old school. We don’t pass a a plate. But we do provide opportunities to give online and in the mail.

All this requires a plan for it to be done right and on time.

We’re in a section of Jesus’ ministry where He is getting all His last instructions in before He’s crux’d and leaves them. He’s 2.5 years into his ministry. He’s months away from the cross. And these lessons are important for the disciples to get so they can be successful after he’s gone.

He’s teaching in parables. This one and the next are about money and possessions.

We’re in Luke 16 this morning.

In this parable, Jesus used a bad example to teach a good lesson.

The Shrewd Manager

Luke 16:1–8 NIV

Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 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.’ “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—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ “ ‘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.’ “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.’ “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.

In c.1 wealthy families would hire mangers to manage their finances, business, and personal affairs. Similar to day we have financial planners. They were expected to grow their bottom line and the’d get paid a commission on what they managed and made.

According to reports the master had rec’d, his manager was incompetent and irresponsible w/ his assets. He was wasting money on frivolous things and had nothing to show for it. He still took his commissions so the manager was building his bottom line while he was not building his master’s.

His attitude about his master’s assets was not good. He was using them for his own gain. His priority had been to improve his bottom line while using his master’s assets to live a lavish lifestyle.

Jesus tied this parable to the last one drawing a comparison between this manager and the younger son, the prodigal, who wasted his wealth on parties and wild living.

If he was investing it, he’s have dividends and interest to show on his accounting spreadsheets.

So, the master called him in. Already believing the reports. Immediately fired the manager and ask him to bring his books so the master could audit them to see what he had done with his assets.

His reputation in the community was not good. A small town knows everything about everyone, including how irresponsible this guy was being w/ the assets he was managing. So, odds of landing a similar job w/ the same perks to support his lifestyle were slim.

So, he hatched a plan that he hoped would allow him to continue to live at the same standard of living and be able to continue to get to do all that he wanted to do.

This job he just lost was a very white collar job. He was soft in the sense that he had no callouses on his hands.

Like me. I spend all my time studying, typing, preparing sermons and bible study lessons, and making sure the bulletins get folded properly while we talk college footballs and solve the world’s problems.

My hands are soft. If I had to go get a job digging ditches, my hands would start bleeding immediately.

This manager knew he was too soft to dig. Digging ditches and trenches was one of the lowest jobs anyone could find on any career ladder. If you had not blue-collar experience, then you started out digging. This guy didn’t think he could do it.

He was too proud to beg. Already humiliated losing the cushy job he had. To stand on the street corner and beg for money would have taken him to a much lower low. He couldn’t stoop so low as to do that.

He’d been handling large business deals. Big accounts with lots of zeros. He was unwilling to start over w/ such a low status.

So, he schemed and hatched a plan that he hoped would put him into the good graces w/ some of his former master’s clients so that they would invite him into their homes, into their lives, where over time he could win them over and possibly begin to work for them in a similar capacity. Getting into their homes would literally allow him to get his foot in their door.

Clearly, a smart guy. If only he would have used his smarts for the good of his master.

He went to 2 of his former master’s clients. Men who owed him large sums of money. Clearly, one of his jobs for his master was to make business loans. They’d get paid back with interest. If he’d done his job right, he’d get his commission and everyone would have made money on the deals.

He went to these 2 men who owed the master a lot of money. The manger shrewdly discounted what they owed. He lessened their burden to gain favor w/ them and help secure his future.

The total debt of olive oil was equal to 3 years’ salary. No small amount. He cut it in halve. That was a huge discount. Imagine the appreciate of the debtor. You bet he liked the manager now.

The total debt of the wheat was about 1 year’s salary. He discounted it 20%. Also, a significant amount.

Did he simply cut his commission out? Did he just cut the interest they owed? Impossible to say. But either way, the debtors would have been pleased and probably paid that bill right away to get it off their books at such a discount.

This manager was not looking out for his master. He was looking out for himself hoping to secure his own future. It most likely was not his commission nor his assets he discounted. This was purely a selfish move hoping he could maintain his party lifestyle by getting invited to parties hosted by these debtors and hoping to have the chance to schmooze them into hiring him at some point in the future.

What he did was not good. It, too, was selfish and dishonest. But when the master discovered the plan, he commended him for such a shrewd move to secure is his future.

Shrewd means, crafty, cunning, conniving. Conspiring to do something that is questionable in morality and good character.

Jesus used this story with a bad message to teach a good lesson.

We should plan for the benefit of others, not selfishly for our own. Don’t let material things become such a high priority that we will bend rules and do questionable things to gain more. Plan ahead and apply the plan to do more good.

Jesus not only wanted the discs to see the value in planning for the purpose of doing more good for others in the future, He also wanted to the Pharisees in the crown to get the message that their attitude toward selfishly building up their own wealth was a problem.

In Deut. 28, God had promised to bless his people if the obeyed him. The Pharisees perverted the principle and taught that material wealthy was a sign of God’s blessing and they bel’d they were doing things right. But that is not the intent of the passage.

They got their priorities wrong. Faithful obedience is the priority. As a result, God would bless. Not always materially. But it would always be good. They only saw the material blessing, wealth, and pursued that at all cost.

They taught, “Whom the Lord loves, He makes rich.”

Yet, we all know that not to be true. There are too many ppl to count that God loves that live at or below world standard poverty. God continues to provide what they need. But they may never get rich until they enter heaven.

The Pharisees sought material wealth as a priority to prove they were accepted and approved by God.

In order to correct this bad attitude toward material possessions, X taught this parable.

Again, work hard, scheme, plan, budget, but do so for the long-term benefit of others. Plan to use your wealth, however much or little you have, not to build up your own monetary bottom line, but the spiritual bottom line of others.

W/out a plan, things will get away from us and we will not be able to do what Jesus is calling us to do.

Right after teaching this parable, Jesus gave 3 applications. You want to know where I got the idea for 3 applications for my sermons? Well, here it is.

3 Applications

Luke 16:8–13 NIV

“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. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. “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. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? “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.”

Interesting what Jesus said here. People of the world tend to be better planners than Xians. We tend to fly by the seat of our pants too much.

We talk about not falling into the trap of ‘if it feels good, do it.’ Even if the trap is baited with something good that feels good.

No doubt, we at least a little bit of good. But with a plan, we could do a lot more. It might take more time. But the value we give could be much greater.

Our church in the South Bend area was involved w/ a ministry right down the street from us called Life Station. It sat on abut 15 acres. It was founded and led by a woman who had a heart for lost kids, outcasts, teenagers who didn’t know Jesus and didn’t know why they were alive and had to go to school.

Life station had livestock. Horses, cows, goats, chickens and the like. They gave these kids responsibility. These animals depended on the responsibility of the kids to feed and water them, exercise them, milk them, and otherwise care for them.

If the kids didn’t take care of their responsibility, then the animals suffered. They discovered these kids who appeared irresponsible and lost in life and school, when given real responsibility for the care of an animal, it turned their life around.

Their grades came up. They fought their parents less. Stopped using drugs and alcohol. And they showed up on time and got their chores done.

It was just a day camp. No one spent the night. They would spend all day in the summer and after school in the winter. It was are real successful, rubber meets the road ministry.

The woman who founded had to give it up for health reasons. She sold it to a really nice guy. He loved kids, too. But, as you can imagine, it took a lot of money to make Life Station go. Animal feed, farriers, vet bills, barn maintenance, and the like, cost a lot of money.

This new guy was not a good planner nor budgeter. They were spending thru their cash at a rapid rate and not taking in enough to cover their bills. It was going under.

The board arranged for a meeting with a deep-pocketed donor. A xian. A retired, but very successful businessman who had the capability of pulling Life Station our of its death spiral.

At this meeting, the business man asked the new director for his budget for the year and his checkbook register for spending information. He had none of that. He had no budget. He didn’t record the checks in his register. He didn’t keep track of spending.

Life Station is no more. They sold the land to sub-division developers, who obviously had a plan to make a lot of money.

Make sure you have a plan for how you want to spend your money, otherwise it will get away from you.

In order to apply this parable’s message in these 3 ways, Jesus was saying the disciples needed a good plan.

You cannot buy your way into heaven. But you can use your wealth to store up treasures in heaven that will be available to yu when you get there.

His first application was to use your material resources to lead people closer to Him. And to do that, invest in good relationships.

Use your wealth to make friends. Don’t buy your friends. Invite them into your home for dinner. Get to know them. Let them get to know you.

The closest some ppl will ever get to Jesus is you. And some of those will want to get to know Him themselves.

This is why we invest so much in relationship opportunities in the community. Luau, Octoberfest, fellowship lunches, Community Thanksgiving, Soup’er Bowl, Men’s breakfast, Ladies’ fellowship, etc.

Each of these is an opportunity for all of us to earn the right to talk to ppl about Jesus. These are not cheap to pull off. But they pay great dividends in the spiritual realm when someone starts here then comes to church, accepts Jesus, gets baptized, and starts growing in a dynamic walk w/ Jesus.

God responds to Xians who love their neighbors w/ concrete action and tangible ways. This is evidence of your active walk w/ Jesus.

Your money will ultimately fail you. It will run out. Be pre’d for when it does. Rather than rely on it, use it for things that do last like eternal friendship. Relationships with ppl who will join you in heaven where you have forever to get to know ea other.

To know God, live on less here, and be generous is better than not knowing God, living on more here, and being selfish. Besides, when you get to heaven you’ll be wealthy beyond your imagination. Don’t stress over it here.

Jesus 2nd application is to be faithful w/ little things. Little things grow into big things.

Not one starts out w/ big things successfully. We all start small and build it up.

Character is character whether dealing w/ a little or a lot.

This life on earth is an exercise in stewardship of God’s stuff. If we don’t do a good job now w/ what little have on hearth, how will He be able to expect us to do a good job w/ the inheritance that awaits us when we get to heaven?

Responsible or irresponsible. start small and it will grow. Then, God and everyone else will see you for the character you have.

I had a part-time children’s ministry director at my church in LR. She was also the director of a home-school academy. She was responsible for payroll and paying the taxes due for the employees who helped the parents educate their kids.

The owners of the academy hadn’t done an audit for years. So they decided to do one. They discovered my children’s ministry director had been embezzling funds and misappropriating funds for her own benefit.

She ended up confessing to pocketing almost a half million dollars over 5 years. Little by little. No one noticed anything wrong. No audits were performed. Until they were when her house of cards came tumbling down.

A little grew into a lot. Be faithful and responsible w/ a little and it will grow into a lot.

Jesus’ 3rd application is for us to choose our master wisely. We are all slaves. We have a master. And, we have the opp to choose who that will be.

The wise choice is to choose God as your Master, not money. Love one, hate the other.

Love and hate, in this context like I defined a few weeks ago, are not emotional. They are commitments to loyalty. Love God. Be loyal to Him. Hate money. When there is a choice to be made, a fork in the road and you cannot take both, always be loyal to God and take the fork He wants you to take.

Use your wealth to accomplish everything He has called you to do. He will equip you and resource you to be able to be successful.

We don’t have to hit the mega lottery to be successful in God’s eyes. We just need to do w/our wealth what is best for his purposes, to love others and lead them to Jesus, faithfully and obediently being responsible w/ what little we have, and always choose God’s plan over your own for how you will spend you time and money.

All this requires a plan to be successful. And God will even help you with that.

Applications

Plan

Formulate your plan. Live on a budget. Live on less while you are here confident you will be wealthy beyond you wildest imagination when you get to heaven.

Make sure you have a will. Unless you want the gov’t and the lawyers to get all you have. If you want your heirs to get what you have worked so hard for, make sure you have it laid out in a will.

And, remember your churches, ministries, missionaries, and organizations that do God’s work and lead ppl to Jesus. OCC, Sam’s purse, PMJ. Be generous and leave a little to those of us who are working so hard to be the hands and feet of Jesus around MP and the world.

Little

Don’t wait till you’re rich to write checks. Start now w/ a percentage. As your income grows, so will the amount you give even if you keep the same percentage.

Be faithful, obedient, and responsible w/ a little so you’re ready to be the same w/ a lot when you get there.

Master

Choose a good Master. None is better than God. We make lousy masters of our own lives. And, money is even worse.

Money makes a great slave. But it will ruin you as a master. If you haven’t already, put God on the throne in your life. Give him authority over all your assets and decisions. He will never steer you wrong.

All the big things we want to do, or have to do, we must have a plan to get them done. You want to go on vacations? The bigger ones are not cheap.

You want to retire? That’s not cheap! Every month we’ve got to be disciplined to put some money away so that one day we’ll be able to retire and live off of what we saved.

Our houses, things break. Appliances wear out. Roofs wear out and leak. Pipes break. If you need a new washing machine, we’d all appreciate it if you’d go out and get one.

For most of these things, if we are not prepared to pay them and can’t, then there are quick consequences. The tax man sends another bill. The bank reminds you they own your house, they are just letting you live in it as long as you make the payments. No one will sit w/ you in church if you haven’t washed your clothes in a few weeks.

And Jesus wants us to know we have another priority that needs to be in our budget and on our calendar if it’s going to get done right and on time.

As a follower of Jesus, serving God means we will be generous and faithful with God’s stuff to help others. That’s why He lets us use His stuff while we’re here.

We are stewards of God’s stuff. That means, He owns everything. We get to manage the stuff of his that He lets us use while we’re here.

We’re not taking it with us when we leave this life. Our stuff will out last all of us.