Righteous Stewardship
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Intro:
Idea: maybe a point in the middle...
Have a sack of things or pictures of these things that I have bought that serve as distractions and show my lack of shrewdness
computer, old computer, tablet, old tablet, headphones wireless over the ear, head phones wireless corded, head phones plugged in - pictures of all my bags I use, pictures of my shoes, pictures of the jackets I have etc.
Questions that get at how much we struggle with missed opportunities (if used the parable of Lazarus and the rich man)
have you ever missed an opportunity?
This morning we are going to talk about everyone’s favorite subject “stewardship,. How we handle our finances, our jobs, our time and our stuff.
have you ever dealt with disappointment?
Our passage this afternoon will be 5
Many of you in this room are in school or have a job. if you are in school it is to get a job, so that you will have money, and that money will buy you stuff
But life doesn’t end when we get a job, we must work the job. Life doesn’t end when we clock out in the afternoon, there is additional time to manage and spend doing something.
How did that turn out for you? How did you react?
All of this is Jesus’ topic today as He is seeking to teach up about the stewardship of the resources we may have: money, time and stuff
Follow along with me as we read Luke 16:1-10
The Unrighteous Steward
The Unrighteous Steward
Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. “And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ “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; I am ashamed to beg. ‘I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.’ “And he summoned each one of his master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ “And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And 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?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ “And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.
Let us Recap quickly:
What has happened - the manager has managed poorly and is going to be fired
The manager recognizes that this will be very bad for him since he is fit for nothing else - since by his own account he is not fit for manual labor and is too proud to ask for money
What does it look like for Christians to be shrewd about eternal things in light of final judgement?
What does it look like for Christians to be shrewd about eternal things in light of final judgement?
He decides to do right by the debtors of his master and thereby ingratiating/or finding favor with themselves to him
Before he meets with his boss again, the soon to be fired manager goes to the debtors of his boss and takes his fee off the bill and has them change what they owe his boss. What has most likely happened, as was the case for tax collectors during this time period,was when payment was due for goods or services rendered the manager or tax collector made a bill of more than was actually due and that was their payment. No one knew how much the actual amount was and how much the manager was pocketing. This was probably common practice
The debtors of the boss would have found the lowered bill very exciting and may have known that the manager was forgoing his fee, and this would have ingratiated him to them and they may have helped him out. Much like if a building contractor originally gave you a bill for $200k for a house he was building for you and then came back with a bill without the labor cost, maybe $150k. You would be very excited.
In the midst of his mistake, the disgraced manager made a wise decision - he sought favor with those who could possibly help Him.
The boss recognized that he had done this and praised the shrewd manager for making a wise move based upon the managers current situation. The boss praises the manager for getting it, for understanding the reality of his situation and wisely doing something about it
It is on this point that JESUS comments that those that follow the ethos of the world are smarter in dealing with others of the world than Christians are when dealing with one another. Here is the teaching moment - Jesus tells a story that implies that believers need to take into account all the many factors at play in their circumstances and their situation and to act wisely in the use of their resources.
Jesus follows this up with some additional teaching in v. 9. You need to be wiser and here is what you need to learn…That we need to be shrewd in being stewards of our resources according to God’s plan for it
I have been fired from a job before - in this very building in fact. Was it justified, doesn’t really matter - that day I learned that there are consequences to my actions. Poor stewardship of responsibility, time and stuff has consequences. At that point in my life I didn’t really think that it did. The hard lesson was a reality that I had to deal with. It was helpful to me because the truth of what we are talking about today were made real in my life.
As we look at the next 6 verses I want you to take note of 3 things that I want you to pay attention to
I have been fired from a job before - in this very building in fact. Was it justified, doesn’t really matter - that day I learned that there are consequences to my actions. Poor stewardship of responsibility and stuff has consequences
(1)Stewardship with our resources is about being Shrewd (Smart, Wise, Prudent)
“And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Takeaways:
Jesus repeats to us what we should do and it is what the manager in the story wisely chooses to begin doing (we will unpack this in just a min…)
There is typically a reality that exists that we act like does not exist - our resources are not our own
We I think of stuff as my own, I treat it differently - it is mine to manipulate, it owes me thinks, it can do stuff for me that is self-serving
Our stuff is not our own - up to this point in Human History man is still not able to make something out of nothing. What we have is then contrived and not our in sense that we often mean it. Our stuff is given by someone else (God) or gotten from something else (what God has made).
Because our stuff is not our own
CS Lewis (Screwtape Letters)
“We produce this sense of ownership not only by pride but by confusion. We teach them not to notice the different senses of the possessive pronoun – the finely graded differences that run from “my boots” through “my dog,” “my servant,” “my wife,” “my father,” “my master,” and “my country,” to “my God.” They can be taught to reduce all these senses to that of “my boots,” the “my” of ownership...And at the other end of the scale, we have taught people to say “my God” in a sense not really very different from “my boots,” meaning “the God on whom I have a claim for my distinguished services and whom I exploit from the pulpit...”
And all the time the joke is that the word “mine” in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything. In the long run either Our Father [the devil] or the Enemy will say “mine” of each thing that exists, and especially of each man. They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong – certainly not to them, whatever happens.”
The reality is that you do not own anything that you have. The reason we know this is that when you die, where does your stuff go? to someone else, and if if goes to someone else that it wasn’t yours…not really, nor is it theirs - this reality is a hard one!
this reality is a hard one
Shrewdness then...is about being smart and understanding the reality of this circumstance
Shrewdness is about being smart and understanding the reality of this circumstance
Go back to verse 9 - What Jesus is saying is that, ”make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it inevitably fails, and when you die and you don’t get to take it with you that God will receive you into his eternal dwelling . Because our resources and what we do with it matters. Because it shows where are heart is and where our treasure is.
Jesus is saying if you have resources it would be wise of you to bless those who are needy and so fulfill the law of Christ () We are to bear one anothers burden’s and those burdens are not just emotional ones. So if you have something to give and know someone that needs then you should provide for them. This is wise because when your resources are no longer yours that you will be received in God’s kingdom because you have invested in that kingdom, because you were part of that Kingdom, and you were doing kingdom things with your resources. You are investing in a kingdom that is imperishable and not your own which is perishable.
Jesus puts the exhortation into the form we see in the story from the dishonest manager
so...(1)Stewardship with our resources is about being Shrewd (Smart, Wise, Prudent)
(2) Stewardship with our resourcesis about being Responsible and Faithful
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
1. Our reality should be taken into account when we decide on what we should do
The question I need to ask myself is what does it mean for me to be responsible or faithful in any given situation
there are those of you who are retired in here, there are those of you that are working in here, there are those of you who are in school in here and all of you have different resources and that stuff can be used responsibly and faithfully according to God
Jesus teaching us the law of faithfulness (pistos - adj. form of word for faith) - faithful with a little, faithful with a lot; unfaithful with a little, unfaithful with a lot
When we are young we often think that the little things don’t matter (its not that big a deal that I am late consistently, that I do “this” from time to time, that I can’t be counted on or when I say something it doesn’t really matter if I don’t follow through.
We think the little things don’t matter and that some day some body will give me a bunch of responsibility just because. Would you give responsibility of something that mattered to you to someone who was unfaithful, irresponsible or incompetent. The answer is no, so then why do we think that people will give us responsibility of resources when we haven’t proven ourselves to be responsible and faithful?
We are not generally faithful/trustworthy/loyal transaction to transaction, friend to friend or day to day
We are either faithful, trustworthy or loyal in everything or nothing - you find a way to be there consistently, you keep confidence consistently, you are above reproach consistently or you are not. Many of us need to grow in this area.
If you need to grow in being faithful and responsible with your resources then you need to recognize that you need to understand and respond to this law of faithfulness if you want to be useful to the father. faithful with a little, faithful with a lot; unfaithful with a little, unfaithful with a lot
Peter speaks of usefulness in 2 Peter chapter 1
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
this is what is means to be responsible and faithful in God’s kingdom…to be the type of person that God can count on - it is one of the reasons for our true knowledge of Him
Being responsible and faithful is something we must be intentional about
Being responsible and faithful is something that we must be learned
Being responsible and faithful is something that must be practiced
if you are responsible and faithful with your resources then chances are you have been intentional about it, have learned how to do it and have practiced it and you have not if you aren’t
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
[Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay [imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, Who are being guarded (garrisoned) by God’s power through [your] faith [till you fully inherit that final] salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time. [You should] be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed. Without having seen Him, you love Him; though you do not [even] now see Him, you believe in Him and exult and thrill with inexpressible and glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy. [At the same time] you receive the result (outcome, consummation) of your faith, the salvation of your souls. The prophets, who prophesied of the grace (divine blessing) which was intended for you, searched and inquired earnestly about this salvation. They sought [to find out] to whom or when this was to come which the Spirit of Christ working within them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow [them].
Again, he keeps working
1 Peter 1:
Again
“Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?
Here is the application to you, if I can’t trust you with the resources you have now to do right with them, then how can I trust you with other resources - true riches, eternal things
be responsible and faithful with what you currently have and prove yourself worthy to handle kingdom things
the “do right with it,” is not spend it wisely on material things but using money for the good of the kingdom
so often with our responsibilities and resources we have the mindset of not screwing it up…God wants more out of his investment than that
How can I use this job, or my time, or my stuff to benefit others?
its not about the money and the stuff ...but it is - because it shows what your faith is in
are money and possessions a tool for you or do they make you a tool? (point of levitity) tool - a person who does not understand what everyone else does
or
“And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
if your resources are not yours really…and if you can’t use what is not your wisely, then who will give you anything that matters that is yours to be faithful with?
Stewardship with our resources is about being Shrewd/Smart
Stewardship with our resources is about being Responsible and Faithful
(3) Stewardship with our resources is about who we Serve
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
we have seen the law of faithfulness - faithful with a little, faithful with a lot; unfaithful with a little, unfaithful with a lot
this is the law of the master - no one can serve two masters at the same time
more specifically you cannot “serve” God and wealth simulataneously
to serve God is to be for his agenda, his purposes and be loyal to his commands
to serve wealth is to acquire it, so that it may give you comfort, protection and hope for now and in the future
our stuff can do the same thing, we serve our stuff if we acquire it to give us comfort, protection and hope for the future
they is a way in which my phone, or my computer, my headphones even can give me comfort and hope for the future. God is supposed to supply that
How does our stuff do that? it makes us dependent on it
How does our stuff do that? it makes us dependent on it
if I don’t have that thing, can’t do that thing... I can’t function - headphones, music, that drink, streaming service, social media
What if God were taken away from you? How well would you function. If he went on vacation for two weeks, would you notice?
there was a time in my life as a christian when if someone were to ask me that, I would have been ok - not now. I would be completely lost if God took a vacation from me for two weeks. I am dependent on Him!
it is possible to have wealth and stuff and not serve it but it is hard
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
Luke 16:
Pharisees: we like our resources - we like what we can do with it, how it makes us feel, how it gets us by, that it can make me happy
Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.
why might Jesus say that what men highly esteem is detestable in the sight of God.
Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.
As we end I want to give you three additional thoughts about how we move from being a possible unrighteous steward to a righteous one. Or if we are a righteous steward to being more so, how we can continue on that path
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
(1) am I doing justice with my resources (money and my possessions)?
(1) am I doing justice with my money and my possessions?
are there people that need things that I have access to, that I could help?
am I making things right through the use of my time, my money and my stuff?
when I can do justice with my resources then that means that those things are not the source of hope, comfort and joy that I have made them out to be in the past. that they are just things to me, just like anything else. If I can be kind with my money and my stuff then it is a tool that I can use for the betterment of others, to meet the needs that they have, that I am showing where my true treasure lies
(2) Am I being kind with resources (money and my possessions)?
Am I being kind with my money and my possessions?
being kind is the quality of being friendly, considerate and generous?
am I being friendly with my money and stuff?
am I being considerate with my money and my stuff?
am I being generous with my money and my stuff?
Am I walking humbly with God with my money and my possessions?
when I can do justice with my resources then that means that those things are not the source of hope, comfort and joy that I have made them out to be in the past. that they are just things to me, just like anything else. If I can be kind with my money and my stuff then it is a tool that I can use for the betterment of others, to meet the needs that they have, that I am showing where my true treasure lies
(3) Am I walking humbly with God with my resources (money and my possessions)?
I am letting God dictate what I do with what he has given me?
Am I putting myself in the place of judge of my estate and the things that I have?
If I am not using my money and my stuff for God’s purposes then what good is it to anyone but me. (remember the “no fear” t-shirts - the person who dies with the most toys wins…yeah but what happens to it? Loving my neighbor is almost always begins with my money and my stuff. We sin with our whole being and all our possessions and we can love with all of it to. He saved you so that everything about you could be used in his service. There is no such thing as stuff that is neutral to God. It is used in service of his or it is lost to Him. People can be lost to him and so can our resources that He has given us. If God exists and he has given us good things, then he deserves the use of it. We need to again give him access to what it rightfully his. We need to pull it from behind our backs and open up our clinched fists and give open-handedly. God if you need it it is yours!
As I seek to honor you with my life - may that include my stuff. Thank you father for seeking to teach us about stewardship
Stewardship with our our resources is about being Shrewd/Smart
Stewardship with our our resources is about being Responsible and Faithful
Stewardship with our resources is about who we Serve
Let’s Pray
Other Random Notes:
Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
How do we use our wealth prudently
How do we use our wealth prudently
https://collegemarketinggroup.com/blog/where-do-college-students-get-their-spending-money/
Things people spend money on?
internet and phone service
traveling
technology
clothes
conveniences, like monthly services
drinks (coffee, smoothies, other)
What does it look like for Christians to be shrewd about eternal things in light of final judgement?
What does it look like for Christians to be shrewd about eternal things in light of final judgement?
shrewd = wise, prudent
stuff and things are what we trust in, at some later point we trust in money for security if we no longer are enamored of things.
Use what you have for God Shrewdly
Use what you have for God Shrewdly
“And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
What Jesus is saying is that, if you have possessions or money it would be smart of you to use that money to bless those who are needy and so fulfill the law of Christ (), so that when the money inevitably goes away, you will be received into God’s kingdom because you have invested in his kingdom that is imperishable and not your own which is perishable.
Possible example of futility of possessions and pleasure is
Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
The New American Commentary: Luke The Lukan Message
on the necessity of not forgetting the priority of values related to future life
The manager is saying that the man was wise to recognize he needed to do something quickly to make sure he had a future
The New American Commentary: Luke Comments
Believers should so conduct their lives that when this world and its wealth comes to an end, God will welcome them into his presence
God is displeased when we waste what we have been entrusted
The New American Commentary: Luke Comments
The irony of greed lies in the fact that the more people accumulate for themselves in this life, the less they truly possess “property of their own
A Walk with God: Luke 73. The Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1–18)
What God is looking for from his people is not success, but fidelity. He doesn’t measure us by our bank balance or the degree of our authority. Maybe your task seems insignificant, but God has given it to you and wants to see that you are faithful in it, before he will promote you in his kingdom.
Possible example of futility of possessions and pleasure is
Possible example of futility of possessions and pleasure is
Intro and other ideas
Idea: maybe a point in the middle...
Have a sack of things or pictures of these things that I have bought that serve as distractions and show my lack of shrewdness
computer, old computer, tablet, old tablet, headphones wireless over the ear, head phones wireless corded, head phones plugged in - pictures of all my bags I use, pictures of my shoes, pictures of the jackets I have etc.
Questions that get at how much we struggle with missed opportunities (if used the parable of Lazarus and the rich man)
have you ever missed an opportunity?
have you ever dealt with disappointment?
How did that turn out for you? How did you react?