I am resolved what to do.

Service Notes

Great passage for us to introduce the theme for the annual missions conference.

Graham come up and introduce it.

Reading Introduction

Difficulty of the passage / Appears Jesus commends bad ethics.

Prodigal manager after the story of the prodigal son

Take note Jesus is speaking “unto his disciples”

Sneak peak down to v. 14. This is the response of the Pharisees Luke 16:14 “14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.”

Luke 16:1–13 (KJV 1900)

1 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.

Application

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.

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?

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.

Sermon Introduction

Narration & Application

Review the story

The application.

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.

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?

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.

We should always be considering the end game.

Therefore the steward, knowing he would be called to account, used his present position to prepare him for the next stage of his life.

Luke 16:2-3 “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.”

Been put on notice

Remember how the prodigal “came to himself” in Luke 15:17 “17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!”

Then we ended last week with older brother being intreated by the Father to come in Luke 15:28 “28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.”

Now we have the prodigal steward receiving his notice Luke 16:2b “for thou mayest be no longer steward.”

Shock to the system

Patrick Henry told me that one day as he was starting a church in Argentina, God impressed on him that it was not just writing a sermon on prayer but he was to teach the people to pray. Jesus wasn’t just telling a story - he was working to wake up the people in their sin.

Jesus is using intentionally shocking story to help drive home a point.

We will all give account, to God. for the stewardship of our time, our talents, our resources, and our influence.

Things get real & personal when we start to talk about money. When I was in middle school one of my classmates robbed the store my mom owned. He wanted it to not be personal.

Example: Money represents time, life, decisions, energy, protection, food, and so many of the things that make up our lives. / How could robbery be anything but personal.

A third of the parables have some reference to money.

You may accuse me or other preachers of being concerned about your money for selfish gain, but do you really believe the Creator of this Universe came here to start a Pyramid Scheme.

There is an appointed time all of this ends

Luke 16:9 “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.”

You cannot see it but all money has an expiration date on it.

Your life has an expiration date to it as well. Hebrews 9:27 “27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

As we think through the lesson given we should first stop and feel the gravity. Jesus is teaching us how those who know know Him as Lord will steward their lives.

There is a right and wrong way to invest our lives; as it is represented often in currency.

One should use money to win people into the kingdom.

Luke 16:8 “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.”

Many find these parable problematic; It is a good lesson from a bad example.

Important to see what is being commended.

We are told to turn our eyes toward the eternal.

Luke 16:9 “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.”

The man was concerned about being welcomed into an earthly home.

We are told focus on who will greet us into our heavenly home.

"Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last"

What is the way that we use money that will not fail?

Remember the story of the man who was building bigger barns?

Luke 12:20-21 “20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

There is another option than being a fool. Luke 12:33 “33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.”

Guiding principle of investing is Luke 12:31 “31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Really enjoy airports. It is fun to meet new people and see people run that had no intention of running on that day. We all have seen the guy who is yelling in his phone about selling a stock. It is so impressive. It is so personal to him. — Fantasy Football became that to me, to some extent. I learned about D-Ernest Johnson a RB for Cleveland.

What if we treated our investment into ministry in the same manner?

You might say, I am reaching. I do not believe so. I believe this is what we are to consider. Luke 16:8 “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.”

Many ways to be involved, be a wise steward and invest.

The pastor says give to the needs and ministry of the church.

The missionary is looking for partnership with a new project.

The non-profit organization wants help with a certain cause.

Greg will tell you to pick up some school supplies as we build a friendship with a local school.

We should invest to have people meeting us at our eternal habitation.

Luke 16:9 “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.”

Song

And he said friend you may not know me now And then he said but wait You used to teach my Sunday School When I was only eight And every week you would say a prayer Before the class would start And one day when you said that prayer I asked Jesus in my heart Thank you for giving to the Lord

PICTURE OF JUAN AND JASON / This young man is one of those friends we will get to meet at our eternal habitation.

Not pictured but you can see on Thursday. Austin accepted Christ on Thursday night.

You are not just a financial investor you are also a member

Invite the neighbors over for dinner

Give a gift to your co-workers

Go on a trip and help in a work

Purchase material to help you grow in your ability to share the Gospel

Close friends have a family ministry budget. Doesn’t mean they can’t exceed it. Doesn’t mean God isn’t honored in the ways they budget the rest of their money. But it does cause them to have monthly conversations about opportunities around them.

Our spending and investing are reflections of our heart.

Luke 16:11 “11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?”

Does Your use of wealth say to those who look, “He really cares about eternal things”? Or does it say, “He lives for today. He lives for the now. He lives for the blessings now.”

This is a question we can all answer now. You don’t need to win a billion dollars to know.

Faithfulness in small matters, matters in a big way.

Luke 16:10 “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.”

It is as if Jesus preempts our response.

Why ask for more when we are not stewarding what we have well? Luke 16:12 “12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?”

Jesus wants us to understand that our use of money may be a small thing but it's not a trivial thing.

They way we live and spend demonstrated if we truly believe everything any of us ever will have belongs to God

Luke 16:12 “12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?”

We should deliberately choose God over self.

Luke 16:13 “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.”

Oliver video discussing “who is the best?” It is God.

Emphasis is not on the difficulty of two masters but on the TWO DIFFERENT NATURES of the Masters

Money says take and look out for yourself.

God says give and care for others.

“Our problem is that we love the world, and we use the Lord.” We've got it completely backwards.

Closing / Slow Down

Look at the example of the diligence and planning of this manager.

Consider today the intentionality of how we are planning for eternity.

Luke 16:4 “4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.”

Are you resolved?

Football coaches challenge players to leave it all on the field. That's how we ought to live the Christian life. We ought to leave it all on the field.

CONCLUSION

Jesus’s teaching is clear: It's that we are to give the whole of ourselves in devotion to the Lord and our use of material resources is an index to that, it's a witness to that, it's an evidence of that.