Sermon on Stewardship

Here's a sermon I preached recently on Stewardship. Hope you like it.

SERMON: “A Shrewd Peace”
Text: Luke 16:8-- "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.”

1. The Scripture reading that we’re going to focus on for the second weekend in our three week sermon series, Living Each Day as a Steward, is from Luke 16:8: Jesus said, "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.”

2. Many of the parables of Jesus focus on finding something that has been lost. They’re aimed at lost souls. In the parable of our Gospel lesson for today the focus shifts to dealing with the life and living of those who’ve been found, the faithful. Our faith in Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior is reflected by the way we live. As the faithful people of God our purpose is to give glory, honor and service to Him. The way we go about doing things in our day to day business can’t be separated from our relationship with God. No human being can serve two masters. God is our master and we’re called to serve Him, not money. That’s what Jesus is sharing with us in this Parable of the Shrewd Manager. It’s a great parable that touches the lives of every one of us as we struggle to keep God and His will for us before all other things that this world has to offer. We’re often tempted into thinking that money and wealth offer the quiet and peaceable life, but this is not true.

3. The parable of the Gospel lesson is a true picture of worldliness. Jesus aims it at Pharisees, Scribes, politicians and open sinners. He aims it the people we see as needing to hear a lesson on worldliness, because from our viewpoint they have this problem of being absorbed into thinking that more is better. But you know who Jesus is directing this parable to? He’s also speaking this to His disciples and to us as well. If you’re sitting there in your pew thinking that you’re not guilty of worldliness and being greedy with the things of this world. Think again! I myself can attest to the fact that I’ve put other things before God. No matter what our age, we all can become involved in the things of this world and put them in place of God.

4. The commercialism of our age and culture is a good example to us of how worldliness is all around us. The constant use of celebrities to model lines of clothing, sporting goods, and cosmetics tell us that if we own these items, we too can be like our heroes. The use of credit cards and the availability of many goods guarantee our ability choose what we want, when we want it. Easy credit and finance can be a temptation to us all in this fast paced world we live in. In earlier times people had to consider whether they could afford such things, and they might have had to delay while they saved. It’s also become the job of the advertising industry to keep us in a state of discontentment. The answer is always bigger, better, faster, or more like someone else. We’re informed of our lack of something and then told it’s ruining the quality of our lives. But, God has given us a purpose in this life to be the faithful stewards of His creation. We as Christians believe that we are the products of a personal, loving Creator, and that our life, opportunities, and resources are a gift to us. Psalm 24:1-2 says, "The earth is the Lord's and all it contains; the world and those who dwell in it." Because we’ve been made by God, our ultimate fulfillment is found in Him. In a world of many desires and pleasures another voice can be heard from the book of Matthew 11:28 where Jesus says, "Come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The answer is not in a product but in a living person. Jesus Christ. He’s the one who enables us to live our life with a purpose, to live each day as a steward of God’s creation.

5. In the parable, we have a rich man whose business is large, so large that he employed a general manager, a steward, who had the power to handle all of his business affairs. We’re not talking about a small business here. We’re talking about a CEO of a big company like McDonalds or Microsoft. This manager was in charge of 800 to 900 gallons of olive oil and 1000 bushels of wheat. That’s a lot of product in Jesus’ day. No doubt the steward lived a life that was equal with the wealth he dealt within his day to day life. As it turns out the steward, who managed the affairs of the rich man was a crook. This is something that we in our contemporary world today are aware of. We’ve heard of the mismanagement of money in companies such as Enron, WorldCom, Martha Stewart’s company and the events that surrounded Watergate in Richard Nixon’s presidency. It’s because of this that many of us have learned to distrust the leaders and politicians here in America today. In the parable, we look on the steward at a time in his career when somebody had caught him in his crooked activity and threatened to fire him as an employer. The evidence presented against him is overwhelming and convinced the employer to fire the steward on the spot. It’s interesting that the steward makes no effort to defend himself and admits to his guilt.

6. The steward thought about his dilemma. He made a decision and then acted very quickly. That shows us some good leading skills. The steward caught a vision and saw a purpose for himself once again in his job. He knew that he wasn’t strong enough to do hard labor and he wasn’t going to rely on begging for money and food for the rest of his life. His plan was to gain some momentum so that his employer’s debtors would take him into their own homes so that he can live at ease until something better comes along. He decides to squander his employer’s possessions one last time. He pulls the debtor’s note out of the safe, hands it to him and tells him to write a receipt for much less than what it really called for. In that day, as in ours tampered documents would make a transaction invalid. So new obligations must be drawn up and substituted for the originals. The deed’s done. What a clever and shrewd man!

7. How many of you are concerned about your retirement years or your ability to financially exist in the later years of your life? I know my wife and I are concerned about this and my own father has downsized his business in order to make plans for his retirement. We live our lives in the arena of worldliness, trying to gather as much as possible toward some mental picture of what is enough. We call it a “nest egg.” Because we’re sinners, greediness and worldliness can get a hold of us. It brings us to a point where we loose sight of God and our need for a Savior. God’s purpose for our lives is set aside as we scheme to take care of ourselves. Then we’re lost. The shrewd way that mischievous steward gathered his “nest egg” was praised by his employer who was shrewd enough himself to appreciate it.

8. So the question comes up. What does Jesus have in mind in telling this parable? In the verse following the Parable, Jesus helps us apply the story to our lives as His stewards. In Luke 16: 9, Jesus says, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into 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 using our resources. The difference between the Shrewd Manager and us is the motivation and goal. God calls us to use all His gifts with the purpose of helping others to come to know His Son. By doing this we will be welcomed into Heaven by those we have witnessed to and with whom we have shared our blessings.

9. Rick Warren once said in His book, the Purpose Driven Life, “Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purpose for your life…not success, wealth, fame or pleasure. Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction and events without reason.” Our purpose is to serve God through the stewardship of the possessions that He has given to us. God’s not asking for much, just 10%. After all, He gave 100% of His life for us through His death on the cross. Everything we do is a response in thanksgiving to Him for that awesome gift of forgiveness He’s given us. Let’s thank Jesus for living His life with a purpose as a steward giving Himself up for us. Let us live with a purpose as faithful stewards of His creation so that the Kingdom of Heaven may be built up.

Blessing of the Lord: In light of this parable, may we, with God’s strength, become wise stewards of the material things that God entrusts to us and may we respond out of thanksgiving for Who God is and what He has done for us, living each day as stewards who give Him glory and honor in all that we do. AMEN.