Faithful in the little things.

Sidney Weinberg’s story from Janitor to CEO

(Article by Clark J. Wyatt)

Grew up with 10 other siblings, in Manhattan New York. His dad owned a liquor store, and Sidney was only 13 when he decided to stop going to school. He was a hard worker and had many part time jobs including being a newspaper delivery boy.

After around 3 years, at 16 years old he got hired with the job title assistant janitor.

His starting wages were $3 a week. He worked really rigorously and was very dedicated as being an extremely hard worker.

Paul Sachs recognized his work ethic as being a great worker, so he promoted him from being an assistant janitor to becoming an employee in the mailroom.

Who is Paul Sachs? He is the founder of Goldman Sachs.

One of the ways my business professor explained Goldman Sachs, is that it is such a powerful investment group and economic force that it is the most influential bank that impacts the US economy. We typically can gauge the US economy by how well Goldman Sachs is performing. Back to our story of Sidney, Paul Sachs saw how hard Sidney was working that he ended up by getting sent to a University to study business.

Later on during his time at Goldman Sachs, the great depression hit, and Goldman Sachs lost much of its profitability. The board of trustees, promoted Sidney as the new Chief Executive Officer, and during his time at Goldman Sachs he brought the company to amazing heights it had never seen before. He also helped get the United States out of the great depression. It is amazing to see a man that worked hard as a janitor, faithful with his work even in such a small area of responsibilities, and years later oversaw an entire organization and helped get the United States back to financial health.

The story today in God’s Word is similar. Last time I preached we were in Luke 15, this week we are in Luke 16 “The parable of the Dishonest Manager.”

Literary and Historical Context:

Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisees has not finished from when I last preached. He is still speaking with the disciples and the Pharisees.

This section of scripture we are focusing on is Luke chapter 16 This section of scripture is often referred to as Jesus travel narrative as he was doing ministry and traveling to Jerusalem from Galilee. (New international commentary on the New Testament) Jesus has just shared 2 parables with Pharisees that were questioning Him as to why he would sit and be around tax collectors and sinners. We are in the final response that Jesus gives to the pharisees as to why He would allow Himself to be around these sinners and people that were considered to be very worldly and rejected by many.

Point 1: God has given us all a role of stewardship in our lives.

Luke 16:1–3 ESV

1 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 And 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, and I am ashamed to beg.

Explanation:

Jesus is speaking both to the Pharisees and the disciples. He is sharing about this man that has been given the opportunity to be in a manager/leadership role. This man has not had integrity, and instead misused and abused his position of leadership. It was so corrupt what this man was doing that even the owner of the property or company found out about all the ways he was misusing the owners money.

Illustration: Hillsong Exposed

Ministry leaders hiding the truth seeking power, and misusing money for their good. Carl Lentz was the pastor of the New York Hillsong campus and he could be seen hanging out with Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber, Jay Z and other famous celebrities. However he was using the church as a way to build his network and following on social media.

This is not being honest and having integrity.

Proverbs tells us this.

Proverbs 10:9 ESV

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

Integrity is the glue that holds our way of life together. What our young people want to see in their elders is integrity, honesty, truthfulness, and faith. What they hate most of all is hypocrisy and phoniness…Let them see us doing what we would like them to do. - Billy Graham

Point 2: Some people will choose to misuse and abuse what the Lord has given them in their lives.

Luke 16:4–9 ESV

4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Explanation: Now that I’ve been fired, I am going to come up with a scheme to still be able to have people that will be able to help me financially. He goes to the masters clients or the people that have taken out loans from his boss’s company. He basically tells them go ahead and change the amount you owe on the receipt. For one owed 100 measures of oil and he told him to write 50 and the other 100 measures of wheat, go ahead and write 80, so after being fired he basically went to these customers and offered them discounts. Go ahead you get 50 percent off what you owe and the other got 20 percent off what he owed.

The 100 measures would be around 800 gallons today and he told him to write he only owed him for 400 gallons.

The wheat was 1000 bushels that he said to write 800

1 Bushel equals about 8 gallons

The owner commends him, not for being evil or dishonest, but for preparing ahead of time for the future, and after being fired making a business decision that would get the owner money that still hadn’t been paid back. The ESV states that one the manager gave them a discount that could possibly count as the comission he would have made, or 2 it would have counted as providing cash flow to the company, because they had not received any money from both clients.

Illustration:

One example that comes to mind is someone who recently gave people a major discount. He wasn’t fired until he actually gave this discount. He was a a manager too, His name is John and he was a manager of a gas station here in California. He accidentally changed the price of gas which we know just a couple weeks ago was above 6 dollars a gallon, At his gas station he accidentally put in the wrong numbers and was selling it for 69 cents per gallon. So just in seeing this one act managers are given responsibility and need to be careful with their actions.

The same is true with us. We need to be careful with what God has given us and how we use what he has given us. The concept of being both a manager and a Christian is this, We are both given the responsibility of Stewardship:

Stewardship:

a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.

Point 3: Will you be faithful with what God has given you?

Luke 16:10–13 ESV

10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Explanation:

A person who is faithful in little will also be faithful in much. A person that has integrity in little things, they will also have integrity when it comes to major things.

Illustration:

In College there were assignments where we would read a book and write a one page review about it. At the top we would write the percentage we read. This of course was the honor system. I remember talking to one of my friends and he asked why I didn’t just write 100 even though I didn’t read it. I told him and explained that that would go against what I believe, because that would be lying to the professor, but it would also be lying to God and myself. I do not want to live with this thought that I lied my way to get my degree. To me it was all about integrity, and especially since one of the degrees I was pursuing was in “Christian Studies” that would not be Christ like for me to lie. I was willing to accept a B on the assignment because I would rather have a lower grade than to go against God, my own integrity, and live in darkness. For some people they don’t think this is a big deal, similar to how my friend perceived this situation. But for me even the little things matter. Because if I had integrity back then it could help me to have integrity now in bigger situations.

Integrity means that if our private life was suddenly exposed, we’d have no reason to be ashamed or embarrassed. Integrity means our outward life is consistent with our inner convictions. - Billy Graham

Application:

Will you have integrity with what God has given you? Will you choose Him even when there are major consequences. Will you choose to be Godly over living in darkness? Choosing to live in truth and faithfulness helps free you from worry and anxiety. Jesus said in John 8:32

John 8:32 ESV

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The truth is freeing because it reminds us we are living in light as oppossed to being stuck in lies. Remember what Luke 16:8-9 says

Luke 16:8–9 ESV

The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Are you a son of light or are you a son of this world. DO you live for the world or do you live for the Lord?

Let’s pray

Lord help us in our shortcomings and pitfalls. Help us not to be caught up in lies and sin, but instead help us to be freed by You and your Word. Help us to be a people that are set apart, that are Holy. Help us remember we are Yours and you have blessed so greatly with life here on this earth, but You’ve also blessed believers with eternal life with You. May we strive to live for you and to be like you. In Your wonderful, powerful, mighty name, Amen!