“The Steward’s Purpose”--Luke 16:8, Oct. 14th, 2012

1.             Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The text for the second week in our three-week stewardship sermon series, “Living Each Day as a Steward” is from Luke 16:8: “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.”  The message is entitled, “The Steward’s Purpose,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.             Many of the parables of Jesus had their focus on finding and recovering something that had been lost.  Specifically, they were aimed at lost souls.  In the parable of our text for today the focus shifts to dealing with how our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior is reflected by the way we live.  For us as Christians, the way that we go about living our day to day lives can’t be separated from our relationship with God.  That’s what Jesus is sharing with us in this Parable of the Shrewd Manager.  This parable touches the lives of every one of us as we struggle to balance in our lives our relationship with God and our desires and dealings with the things of this world and what they offer to us.  We’re often tempted into thinking that having more things of this world will make us happier, which is totally not true. 
3.             The parable of our text is a picture of worldliness.  Jesus aims it at Pharisees, scribes, publicans, and open sinners.  All those people who need to hear a lesson on worldliness because, they have this problem of being absorbed in thinking more is better.  Guess what, my friends!  Jesus also points this parable in the direction of the disciples and so to us.  If you’re sitting there all smug and secure in your pew thinking, “Well, I’m not guilty of worldliness,” think again!  No matter what your age: involvement with the things of this world are part and parcel of all of us.  We may not want to admit that often God’s purpose for our lives is replaced by the American dream which is to live in a big house, drive fancy cars, and have large retirement accounts.
4.             Three teens were talking about their future plans.  One of them talked of being a doctor because he could have fame and people would come to him and be helped.  He saw becoming a doctor as a way to gain popularity.  His purpose in life was to gain fame.  Another listened and decided he might like to be a doctor too.  He described the car his doctor drove, a Ferrari, and shared that being a doctor would mean he could have the Lamborghini he wanted.  He then started into a speech listing all the things his parents couldn’t afford that he would have.  His purpose in life was to gain wealth.  The third teen was confused.  He thought a few moments and then shared his desire to do something that God wanted him to do.  Maybe that would mean becoming a doctor, or maybe he would be a farmer.  His purpose in life was to glorify God by serving others.  As he shared his purpose of serving others, the other two teens laughed at him. 
5.             In the parable we have a rich man whose business is extensive, so much so that he employed a general manager, a steward, who had full power to handle all his business affairs.  We’re not talking about a small business.  Eight to 900 gallons of olive oil, 1,000 bushels of wheat show us the wealth involved.  No doubt this steward lived quite a life equal with the wealth he dealt in.  As it turns out, the steward who managed the affairs of the rich man was a crook.  Most of us are aware that this is nothing new in managers who have powers like his.  In the parable we look in on him at a time in his career when somebody has blown the whistle on him and denounced him to his employer.  The evidence that’s presented is overwhelming and convinces the employer to fire the steward.  It’s interesting that the steward makes no effort to defend himself and so, more or less, admits to his guilt.
6.             The great emphasis of the parable at this point finds itself in the words of the text and the shrewdness of the steward.  The steward thought about his predicament.  He made a decision and then acted quickly.  That shows us some good managerial skills.  He figured that he wasn’t strong enough to do hard labor like that of a hired hand, not was he about to lower himself to have to rely on begging for his existence.  His plan was to set things in motion so that his employer’s debtors would take him into their own homes so that he could live at ease until something better came along.  Having squandered his employer’s possessions up to that point he decided to do it again, one final time.
7.             He pulled the debtor’s notes out of the strong box, handed it to him and told him to write a receipt for much less than what it really called for.  For a second debtor, he repeated the process.  In that day as in ours, tampered documents would invalidate a transaction, so new obligations must be drawn up and substituted for the originals.  The deed is done.  What a clever man!  What a shrewd man!
8.             The question arises, what does Jesus have in mind by telling this parable?  In the verses following the Parable, Jesus helps us apply the parable to our lives as His stewards.  In verse 9, Jesus said, “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.”  In this verse, Jesus referred back to the Shrewd Manager who used worldly wealth in order to make friends for himself who would take him in when he was fired.  Jesus tells us as stewards to use the same shrewdness in using our resources.  The difference between the Shrewd Manager and us, however, is the motivation and goal.  God calls us to use all His gifts to us with the purpose of helping others to come to know His Son.  In so doing, we will be welcomed in Heaven by those to whom we have witnessed and with whom we have shared our blessings.
9.             In the next verse, verse 10, Jesus said, “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” We often fail to see the witness of Christian faith and conduct that we can communicate in little things:  how we deal with our neighbors around the block, how we value our conversations with our children or our parents, how well we do our homework, perhaps even our ethics on the golf course, or how we play a game of cards.  Our consistency of conduct, and our honoring of principles will be seen in the “little things,” and these may even constitute the practice field for the big things in life, what God entrusts to us.
10.             With verse 13, Jesus concludes His explanation and application of the Parable of the Shrewd Manager.  It reads, “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.”  I don’t believe anyone here today would admit that he or she is serving money and not God.  However, God looks at our hearts, and He sees how we use our credit cards and check books.  God knows what we see as our purpose in life.  When we seek God’s forgiveness and help, He will take away our love for money and possessions.
11.             In this Parable, we see that the shrewd manager’s entire focus was rest and ease in this life.  But recall Jesus’ words.  “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.”  Who is it that receives us into the eternal dwellings mentioned in the text?  God in Christ alone.  Therefore, our motivation as people of God is not rest and ease in this life.  It is serving almighty God.  It is becoming wise stewards of the material things that God entrusts to us by using them to fulfill His purposes.  It’s loving Him because Jesus first loved us, enough to die for us to save us from our sins.  We respond out of thanksgiving and praise for who God is and what He has done for us, living each day as stewards who give Him glory and honor.  Amen.