Using What You Have to Get What You Need

Read: Luke 16:1-9

16 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?

6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

Formalities:

Unto those that hear and do the word of our Lord, Jesus likens you unto the wise man that built his house upon the rock.

Prayerfully: “Using What You Have to Get What You Need”

(Thank you ushers you may be seated)

First, I want to give reverence to Jehovah the center of my life,

His son Jesus Christ who saved my life,

And to his Holy Spirit that enables me to live this life.

Honor to my wife and family

Honor to the deacons of Mt. Nebo Baptist Church and their family.

Honor to the families that make up Mt. Nebo

Honor to our visitors and guest

Honor to those watching virtually

Background

Jesus is continuing the series of parables that he started telling in Chapter 15. He is audience is made of his disciples, pharisees, publicans and sinners. This particular is more directed to the disciples. It comes after the parable of the prodigal son and before parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This is a good bridge parable between the two because you have a steward that mishandles the resources of the rich man he works for.

The rich man thinks that his servant has only been mishandling his resources, but it becomes obvious that he has probably been stealing his money. When the servant is told that he will be let go, he doesn’t change his ways but doubles down by erasing some of the debt of those that owes his master money. He hopes that they will remember him when his stewardship ends and take him into their homes. When the rich man finds out what his wicked servant has done, he praises him for his shrewd dealings! As unbelievable as it sounds it is this shrewd servant that Jesus wants us to emulate. Now you know Jesus doesn’t want us to be thieves and robbers so there must be more to this parable than meets the eye.

Intro

You ever heard of a crime so audacious that you applaud the criminal’s ingenuity. I mean if they would take the time and skills, they used to commit that crime, and do something legal, imagine what good they could accomplish. In this parable of the Shrewd Servant, it seems that Jesus has the same thought.

On the surface it seems unbelievable that Jesus would give praise to this unscrupulous servant for his craftiness, but when you dig deeper into the parable you see that Jesus was trying to show us how to use what we have to get what we need.

How do we use what we have to get what we need, we first must have a reality check.

1. Reality Check (1-3)

a. We All Must Give Up Our Stewardship (1-2)

16 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

The steward had to face the reality that his time there was coming to an end. Because of his mishandling of his stewardship, he was going to be out of a job soon. We are not told how much time he had only that his time as a steward for the rich man was to soon come to an end. The master’s mind had been made up, there was an appointed time that the steward would have to give an account for his service. The blessing was that the steward still had time. The rich man could have immediately fired him, but he was gracious and gave him time.

For everyone that hears me today, God has been gracious to us. He has given us time that we don’t deserve. In this parable the stewardship is our life. God has made us stewards over the life he has given us. The body’s we have come from dust and when we die, they will go back to dust. Let me give you a reality check, none of us are getting out of here alive. Unless the raptures come first, we all must die.

Everything we call ours is the Lords we are but stewards over it for a little while. Every year we get, every month we get, every day, hour, and second that we get is an undeserved blessing from God, but don’t take it for granted. We all have an appointed time to where we too must give up our stewardship and give an account for what we have down while in this body. Once you come to realization that your stewardship will end then we must ask ourselves where will go.

b. Where Will We Go (3)

3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship:

This is the question we all must face, what comes next. What I am to do with the knowledge of knowing that my life will come to an end. Some chose to ignore it or put it off indefinitely. They just keep kicking the can down the road. This steward faced the question head on and so should you.

For those of you that have already made the right decision and chose Christ this is still a question you should ask yourself. I have chosen Christ I will go to heaven, but have you prepared for your home going. For there are rewards there that are based off what you do here. You can’t take treasure to heaven, but you can send your treasures on ahead of you.

Again, this is a question for the save and the unsaved. For the unsaved it is a matter of destination: Heaven or Hell. For the save it is a matter of rewards or lack thereof.

c. Current Destination

I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

He knew what he was faced with when he left his stewardship. There was no illusion of what was waiting for him. Unless he changed something his fate was sealed.

We all come into this world headed for hell. Don’t believe the lie that only bad people go to hell. Many people believe that they have lived a good life and deserve to go heaven. Not because they are great people, but because they are not bad people. They can list a number of things they have never done and think that justifies them going to Heaven. We are not hell bound because of what we do, but because of who we are. We are born into sin.

John 3:18

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

It is not about what you have done but what you haven’t done, which is to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. Our greatest sin is unbelief.

Once you have had a reality check next there is a decision to make.

2. Decision to Make (4-7)

a. Take the Off Ramp (4)

4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

So, while he is still steward, he makes up in his mind to take the little time and resources he has left and prepare for the end of his stewardship. He doesn’t stick his head in the sand and hope the problem goes away. He doesn’t throw a huge going away party. He doesn’t decide to live like Larry and go out with a bang. He decided to prepare for the end of his stewardship.

Have you prepared for that day? Unfortunately, Adam made the choice for all of us in the garden of Eden. We are all bound for hell unless we do something to change the outcome. We must take the off ramp labeled Jesus Christ. He is the only way to Heaven. There are only two destinations Heaven or Hell. Because of Adam we come into this world traveling on the broad highway to Hell. If we are to go to Heaven, we must take the off ramp to the straight and narrow road to Heaven. Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us.

b. Use Your Authority to Forgive (5-7)

5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?

6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

This is where things get weird. The person we are asked to emulate calls all those that owe his master money. He then forgives a portion of their debt owed to the master, so they would remember him when his stewardships end. How is this a good lesson for us? How is this good for us to emulate?

If you focus on the details of what he did you will miss the beauty in what God is trying to show us. He used his authority and resources that he couldn’t take with him to prepare a place for himself when his stewardship was over.

The truth is all sin, is against God. When we trespass against our fellowman we are sinning against God. When our fellowman trespass against us, they have sinned against God.

For example, when David committed adultery with Bathsheba and she became pregnant, he tried to cover it up. When that didn’t work, he had Uriah her husband killed in battle. He thought he got away with it until God sent the prophet Nathan to confront him with his sins. Look at David’s response in 2 Samuel 12:13.

2 Samuel 12:13

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

All of our sins are ultimately against the Lord. But as he has forgiven us, we are commanded to forgive others (Matt 6:12-14). A sign of one that has been changed and regenerated by the blood of Jesus is the ability to forgive. It proves you have taken on the merciful characteristics of our Father in Heaven.

You have had a reality check, a decision to make, and now an example to emulate.

3. Example to Emulate (8-12)

a. Righteous Application (8)

8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

The rich man commends the steward for his wise dealings. He is not saying what he did was right, but he is amaze at how used what he had to get what he needed.

Jesus commends this unjust servant for having the wherewithal to use his authority and resources to put him in a better position once his stewardship was over. Jesus says why don’t us saints do the same thing for the kingdom of God. Take this worldly example and apply it to the kingdom of God. When it comes to things of the world, we can get very crafty, but we seem to turn that off when it comes to the church.

b. Lay Up Treasures In Heaven (9)

9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

We should be using the resources we have here to lay up treasures there. I said something incorrect earlier. I told you there would be nothing here that you can take over there. There is one thing, your relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, for they will be there waiting on you. My momma is there, and my daddy is there. I am sure you have family and friends that are there waiting for you too.

Use the worlds money to bless your brothers and sisters in Christ here so they when you go there they will accept you in there homes. Jesus has just given us picture of heaven that we usually look over. Each of us will have a home not made with mans hands. One where we can entertain and go be entertain by others.

Lay up your treasures in heaven.

c. What we do here echoes into eternity (10-12)

10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

What we do here echoes into the future. What we are stewards over in this life pales in comparison to what we will be stewards over in eternity. But what God places you over in Heaven will be determined by what you did with the little he gives you here on Earth.

When you shout in a large empty building, in a valley, or some other place that causes an echo, you can only hear repeated what was said. The echo never says something different. This is the same with Heaven. Once you die what you have done is fixed. The rewards you get for eternity will based off what you do here and now.

You have had a reality check, a decision to make, an example to emulate, and now a heart to examine.

4. A Heart to Examine (13-15)

a. Know who you serve (13)

13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Jesus is giving you a self-test you that you can take on your own. If he doesn’t have access to your money, he probably doesn’t have access to your heart. If you love your money more than Jesus, you have made your money your idol and resent God and his kingdom by default. If you find yourself drawing up every time the scripture speaks about giving, you may need to see where your love lies.

b. Cold Hearts are Hard Hearts (14)

14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.

Don’t be like the Pharisees. Instead of realizing their love for money made them resent God in the flesh, they harden their heart. If this, is you today, don’t harden your heart? Repent and place God first in your life. If he is first, then everything we have will be at his disposal.

c. God Sees All and Knows All (15)

15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

You may fool man, but you will never fool God. He knows the why we do what we do. He is the righteous Judge and He makes no mistakes.

Closing

Make no mistake our stewardship here will come to an end.

Use what you have to get what you need, but that must start with Jesus.

Because if you don’t have Jesus you have nothing.

Our works won’t matter if we haven’t first taken the gift of salvation.

If we don’t have Jesus, you can forget rewards in heaven, because Hell will be your destination.

God sacrificed too much in sending Jesus for there to be another way.

Over 2,000 years ago on a hill call Calvary Jesus died so that we may live…

On a cross, He was crucified.

In a borrowed tomb, was his dead body lay aside.

On the third day, he was raised alive.

Because our Savior lives, we have hope for tomorrow.

It is my hope that you know the Lord. If not you can change that today. Come while you still have time. Come before stewardship ends.