Ryan Kelly, "The Shrewd Manager" - Luke 16:1-15

look upon the sun despised by those he loved and cast out he was crucified i shed his perfect blood [Music] [Music] he was crushed so i could be freed from sin eternally [Music] he stands victoriously a quarter stone by [Music] [Music] let me bow before the throne kiss my savior's feet and witness my eternal home [Music] is [Music] [Music] he was crushed [Music] he took my place [Music] helplessly [Music] he took my places now he stands victoriously [Music] [Music] [Music] clap your hands all ye people shout to god [Music] he sits on his whole throne [Music] singing praise to god [Music] shout to god with loud songs [Music] i got reigns over the nations good morning let us stand together hear from god's word as we are called to worship from psalm 150. the psalter ends this way it says praise the lord praise god in his sanctuary praise him in his mighty heavens praise him for his mighty deeds praise him according to his excellent greatness praise him with trumpet sound praise him with loot and harp praise him with tambourine and dance praise him with strings and pie praise him with sounding symbols praise him with loud clashing symbols let's say this together let everything that has breath praise the lord praise the lord yes we praise him each and every sunday and each and every day because of his mighty deeds because of what he has done and because of his excellent greatness because of who he is and with every instrument that we can find so every instrument up here is meant to help every instrument out here every breath every voice to sing praise to our great god and as the psalm says our praise should be loud we should get a little rowdy in here we want the whole world to hear what we believe about our god about what he has done and with mask on this morning we're gonna have to sing a little bit extra loud so that we can each hear each other as we praise the lord together praise the lord praise to the lord the almighty the king of creation [Music] o my soul praise him for he is your help and salvation come on here now to his temple near join me in glad [Music] praise to the lord praise to the lord above all things so [Music] have you not seen [Music] is [Music] race to the lord who will prosper your work and defend [Music] he can do [Music] joyful joyful sing it out joyful joyful we adore you god of glory lord of love [Music] [Applause] [Music] joyful joyful sing it out again [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] praise to the lord every voice praise to the [Music] that lord life and breath come now with praises before again [Music] is [Music] forever [Music] if you're glad to be here this morning say amen you can be seated daily god's goodness and his mercy attends us my wife carl and i went through a very severe family hardship about almost three years ago and every day we knew god's goodness and his mercy sometimes directly through his presence often mediated through you guys ministering to us i'll talk more about that in a minute if you're visiting with us we're so glad you're here um i've noticed a lot of new faces in 2021. so if you've been here for a few weeks or a few months we'd encourage you to take our membership class the next one is coming up in three weeks it's a friday evening and a saturday morning right after labor day and it's a no pressure kind of deal so you can come just to learn more theology more about who jesus is and what the church is we're not going to pass out the covenant of fellowship the last hour on saturday pass out pens one per person and say okay all together now we're going to sign the covenant and become members we hope that happens but we leave that to you to your own decision in your own prayer and your own meeting with us one on one after that's all done if you do decide to join us for that class sign up either on the website or using the phone app if you're visiting for the first time today or maybe you're here for a second or third week we'd love to meet you several of us pastors are going to be up front right here below the pulpit on the floor after the service we'd love to talk with you for a few minutes and as always you can reach out also with questions to us using info at dscabq also for everybody we've got a lord supper service this wednesday so coming back in a few days 6 30. that's for everybody so we'd love to see you here this coming wednesday at 6 30. well i mentioned this hardship that my wife and i went through our daughter danielle 32 years old at the time married three kids five days after the birth of her third son completely unexpectedly had an aneurysm in the middle of the night massive brain bleed stroke that left her paralyzed on her right side they lived here in albuquerque at the time i remember my wife and her husband josh went to the unm neurological surgery center i was watching the baby the doctor told them just a few hours after this happened she has to have surgery we have to remove part of her skull because the brain is swelling so much if she doesn't have surgery she'll die if she does have surgery there's only a 10 chance she'll make it and if she makes it once she's all through the rehab centers maybe a year later here's my best guess that she'll be able to feed yourself with a spoon and recognize her kids that's it no talking whole right side paralyzed so of course my wife and josh said please do the surgery do the best you can danielle's come a long way she's walking now with a cane she can talk not as well as i am right now but she can communicate just fine she can have a hand in parenting her kids she can make pb j sandwiches with one hand her left hand josh moved the family to michigan shortly after words to be close to his family why am i telling you all this well this summer a friend contacted me from the midwest and he said ron i know you guys long to be closer to danielle to help out i know maybe you were thinking in retirement you might move up to michigan and i know you love new mexico would hate michigan as a state but there's an executive pastor opening in a church here in michigan you'd be perfect for it the church has gone through hardship they have a new preaching pastor they need to rebuild they want some with with experience and someone from a healthy church like dsc so fast forward to make this short carla and i are moving up to michigan uh later this fall as much as we've loved and been fulfilled here we want to be close to danielle and her kids i'll get two kind of thoughts in the seriousness of all this one is carl and i have so hearts that are so thankful and grateful for all you guys did uh in that first year that hard year you guys gave us baby and young boy things we had somebody needed more because we do more kid care many of you helped with danielle's medical expenses most of all you guys prayed for us and just came over the house and sat silently it worked with us so the second thought is uh that um it's humbling and and honoring to be in in some small part in a tradition where dsc sends out people to other parts of this country or the world to help with the local church i think of trent i think of nathan and clint think of the g's and the seas in north africa i think of people that really weren't sent out from our church but we adopted them and then sent them out in guatemala like rodrigo and carol and ether and jacobo and jeannette as someone once wisely said i think like 30 years ago the church is god's plan a for reaching the world and there is no plan b so pray for the elders they'll be deciding on a new executive pastor in the next few months our church is big enough we've got to have an administrator here kind of both a pastor and a chief operating officer so pray for the elders pray for me now as we pray for these churches father thank you that your goodness and your mercy are daily with us in fact they make us ponder anew what the almighty what you will do father i appear you'd help me as in a real sense i represent this congregation whom i have learned so much from as i seek to help a church in need father guide the elders as they pray through an administrator that can lead dsc through things like building renovations shepherding the flock being a steward of the funds and facilities that you have provided through your people and father help us this morning now as we look soon to the gospel of luke to gain insight into the good news of why jesus came to earth why he died and why he rose again we thank you so much for the good the great the gracious the name of hope jesus amen amen well i think i speak for the whole church ron when we say we love you we're thankful for you thankful for the 16 years that god has given us uh with you and karla and we are looking forward to this next chapter in your ministry and in the life of our church let us stand yeah let's give thanks let us rejoice in our lord's reign and provision for us forever and always no other name on earth can save no other rain can rule our hearts no other king has ruled the grave no other brings new life new hearts let all his people proclaim under your reign under [Music] you have brought us home we will sing so know [Music] we were made for this we were made to bend the knee made to bow before the king made to [Music] his people will say [Music] [Music] you have brought us [Music] know [Music] our king is jesus sing it out his name is jesus his death has freed us the grave defeated jesus [Music] his name is [Music] [Music] we confess we are not our own and you have brought us in and called us so we will sing [Music] we [Music] who have brought us home we will sing of you [Music] that is our hope we want the world to see and know the reign of jesus through us and worship him alone but so often we don't live that way we don't live like we truly believe that jesus is lord of all so let us take this time to confess that to confess that sin and that unfaithfulness to god and to others together i'll start and then we'll say it together almighty god and faithful father we thank you for placing us in covenant relationships with you our families and churches and we thank you for the friendships we enjoy through the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace not together forgive us for being unfaithful to our covenant with you for not loving you and others as we should forgive us for taking our vows and promises lightly forgive us for the breakdown of family life for failing to give time to our families for failing to teach and live by your word for neglecting to love and instruct our children forgive us merciful god for mistreating our friends for being untrustworthy unloving and unkind forgive us for neglecting our church family forsaking the gathering and not being sensitive to the needs of those around us but with you there is forgiveness because of the blood jesus shed for us we stand forgiven because of the love you have for us we stand as one adopted brothers and sisters in christ to the praise of your glorious grace amen jesus our heavenly brother and closest friend teach us every day to love and serve as you did to cherish and protect those with whom we live and worship in your name we pray amen let us now run to jesus who is strong to save jesus said that if i thirst i should come to him no one else can satisfy i should come to him for the lord is [Music] we can always run to jesus jesus [Music] jesus said if i am weak i should come to him no one else can be my strength [Music] he will keep us we can always run to jesus jesus [Music] jesus said that if i fear i should come to him no one else can be my shield i should come to him for the lord is good and faithful he will keep us [Music] jesus [Music] he came for us [Music] jesus said if i am lost he will come to me and he showed me he will come to me [Music] for the jesus is good and faithful he will keep us denied [Music] we can always to jesus jesus [Music] jesus [Music] should nothing of our efforts stand no legacy [Music] tell me what is [Music] me to [Music] is his will be done on earth [Music] is [Music] when on the day the great i am the faithful and the true [Music] [Applause] [Music] and we shall [Music] glory be to christ our king all glory be to christ his room and rain will ever sink all glory and all god's people said you can be seated so if you're new with us it is our custom every week to have a pastor or someone on staff lead our church in a time of extended prayer and usually when we pray on sunday mornings we try to pick one big theme to pray for so we can really dive in we can really focus on on one topic and one idea and this week as we're getting ready to prepare for the sunday and think about what we ought to pray for we we just said there's so many things going on how can we boil it down to one thing and we said well let's let's not let's just pray for all of them so that's what we're going to do please pray with me the way there is so much going on in our world and in our home even in our our own church and with all this going on it can be so easy to take our focus off of you instead to meditate on what is frightening us or frustrating us we can let our souls become downcast and bitter we can forget you we can begin to live and to think and to feel like you are not still the lord of heaven and earth lord of all of the nations and lord over our own lives but you are you are sovereign you are the king you are the king right now you have always been the king and you will be the king forever and so we take all of these things that weigh us down before your throne of grace lord in the world we pray for the nation of afghanistan we pray for your intervention and that situation as so many have been left in danger and in confusion we pray for your protection and your help for the innocent and the oppressed we pray for our fellow countrymen that you would bring them home safely we pray especially for our brothers and sisters and christ for those who are trying to flee we pray that you would hear their cries and you would deliver them and for those who must stay or who have chosen to stay who have chosen to remain in harm's way for the sake of the elect we ask that you would bless them with boldness and shrewdness and faith we ask that you would open up doors to the gospel for them that they the word of god might speed ahead and be honored in afghanistan even among the taliban we know that your arm is not too short lord we also pray for the nation of haiti which has been devastated again from an earthquake and now severe flooding with many dead many more wounded and many many left homeless please be near to the poor to the downcast to the brokenhearted please bind up their wounds we pray that you would make the leaders of their country wise and upright as they respond and rebuild most of all we pray that you would sustain the faith of your church there and help them to show compassion to their neighbors and their needs the lord even used the church in america and throughout the world to bear the burdens of this hurting country lord as we turn much closer to home i know many of us are discouraged to be wearing masks again many more of us are concerned about this pandemic that it still lingers but i know all of us are tired of this yeah lord we thank you we thank you that we can gather together we can gather together in our full number and hear your word we thank you that we can sing to you please help us to be grateful for what we have and not focus on the things that we would rather have what do we ask that you would encourage our hearts that you would give us humble minds like christ you would make us willing to rightly submit to our earthly authorities and to one another in love and we pray also for our own city that is reeling after yet another week really a whole year of so much violence and crime we pray for our police force that you would be with them and encourage them and uphold them and protect them we pray for the police officers that were just this week involved in a shooting we pray for those officers that are in the hospital and that you would bring them to a healthy recovery and in this we pray for our governing officials as you taught us we thank you for their stewardship and we pray that you would work through them to respond wisely and justly to all of these things especially this crime crisis lord please help them to lead in such a way that it would preserve peaceful and quiet lives please help them to lead in a way that defends our freedom to preach and to worship king jesus but we pray most for your church and the witness of your church and this city that through our virtue and through our faithfulness and through our gospel proclamation you would cause as the prophet amos said justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream right here in albuquerque and lastly lord for our church there are so many things that we could pray for for our church my god we pray as we respond to this announcement from pastor ron we thank you for ron and for his wife carla for their many many years of ministry here at desert springs and in their legacy of faithful love and leadership that they're leaving behind we pray for their transition out of albuquerque and into this new home in michigan we pray for the church that they will be joining and blessing we pray for many many more years of faithfulness there we pray for their whole family please bless the geeses and bless our own church give our elders wisdom and discretion as they seek to lead our church into a new season of leadership and ministry and even use this to the building up of your body into maturity into christ who is our head and we ask that you would do that even this morning that you would use your word to make us more like jesus in his name we pray amen let us stand now to rejoice in our gods great faithfulness [Music] great is thy faithfulness oh god my father there is no shadow of turning within thou is not thy compassion [Music] now forever will we [Music] mercies [Music] great is thy faithfulness [Music] [Applause] [Music] dear and to [Applause] [Music] blessings on [Music] faithfulness [Music] is [Music] is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness [Music] morning by morning [Music] by great is thy faithfulness lord unto me yes lord you indeed are faithful your faithfulness is great we thank you lord that you are faithful and true and we pray you'd prove yourself faithful and true today as we look into your word your word is faithful and true lord may we look upon it today may we see our savior afresh may we believe and worship and be changed by him we pray in his name amen you could be seated well when our kids were little and we would read them stories or watch a movie together one of them would inevitably ask good guy or bad guy did your kids do this good guy bad guy every story they got to figure out who's good guy who's bad guy well it's instinctual it's in us it's no doubt part of the moral compass that's still semi-functional in us fallen human beings made in god's image we fairly early on know that there are good guys and bad guys out there and that's how stories work but it doesn't take too long before the answer to the question good guy or bad guy gets more complicated it's not always clear in some stories is it it's not cut and dry not black and white sometimes the protagonist in the story is a rather shady character who happens to be only slightly better than the antagonist as you get older you can actually get so familiar with complexity in characters in complex stories that you don't even realize sometimes that you're cheering for a thief to not get caught only until you've noticed that you are cheering for a thief to not get caught and then you begin to wonder what's going on up there and then many of us even as adults we have those moments where we find ourselves reverting back to the black and white the cut and dry character assessment of our childhood i'll tell a story on my daughters i don't think they'll mind each of our three girls has gone away to the same christian college in louisville kentucky and i think each of them at one point fairly early in their collegiate days has called or texted good old dad to ask for some insight on something they're learning in a theology class or church history class something about a movement or a theological debate and the players involved and so they're calling dad to ask about this or that theologian is he good guy or bad guy was thomas aquinas good guy or bad guy was john wesley good guy or bad guy was carl bart good guy or bad guy is nt right good guy or bad guy now you don't have to know any of those names to probably guess my answer i said well it's complicated let me tell you some of the good things and let me tell you some of the not so good things and i smiled because here we are again doing good guy bad guy now if you're that type of person who still leans toward good guy bad guy analysis well today's parable is going to cause you to grimace and shake your head and give you some fits before you finally get some clarity on it and if you're the type of person that loves complex characters in complex stories where the ethical lines get blurry well boy do i have a parable for you turn to luke 16 with me in your bibles luke 16. and by the way we're skipping some parables in this series of luke's parables let me briefly explain why the parable in luke 14 will actually get covered at our lord's supper this coming wednesday it's fitting to talk about the great banquet before we partake of the lord's supper as for the parables in luke 15 there are three of them they're fairly well known the most well known is the prodigal and if you go to our website and you look under luke 15 you'll find several different messages on those three parables that we've done over the years they're they're covered uh they're familiar and just the very nature of this series and the limited number of weeks that we have means that we're doing a limited number of parables and so we're in luke 16 today as we come to the parable of what some call the dishonest manager or better we could say he's the shrewd manager let me read from luke 16 verses 1 to 15 what we have is the parable and then some teaching from jesus out of the parable and then an interaction with the pharisees based on all this verse 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 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 the manager said to himself what shall i do since my master is taking the management away from me i'm not strong enough to dig and i'm ashamed to beg i've decided what to do so that when i'm removed from management people may receive me into their houses so summoning his master's debtors one by one he said to the first how much do you owe my master he said a hundred measures of oil he said to him take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty 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 80. 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 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 if then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth who will entrust to you the true riches and if you've not been faithful in that which is another's who will give you that which is your own no servant can serve two masters for either either he will hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve god and money the pharisees who were lovers of money heard all these things and they ridiculed him and he said to them you are those who justify yourselves before men but god knows your hearts for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of god the apostle peter in his second epistle makes a passing but important comment about the writings of the apostle paul he says some things that paul wrote are hard to understand so it should be encouraging to every christian who desires to know more of the word of god and sometimes finds trouble that even peter sometimes found some scriptural writings to be hard to understand and you might find comfort this morning to find out that all the great new testament scholars who write commentaries on luke they almost universally agree that this parable is the most difficult of all jesus's parables to understand and so if you found yourself scratching your head as i read this passage don't worry you're not alone the scholars find it a bit of a head scratcher this preacher finds it a bit of a head scratcher but i think after we scratch our heads and work our way through the words i think we'll find that it's a little clearer than perhaps we thought but let's just start with what it is let's call it a perplexing parable that's the first of three points a perplexing parable it is perplexing now interestingly it is not really a mystery about what happens in the parable the story is told by jesus in a really straightforward way it's not shrouded in mystery or told to us in a in a code it's not like many parables that have all kinds of symbolism many parables those different elements of the story all represent different things like the four soils well the difficulty here with our parable is in fact that it's fairly straightforward but we think that it can't possibly teach what it seems to teach jesus couldn't possibly have said what i think he just said that doesn't mean what it looks like it says it means well let's review and talk about the stories to make sure we know what actually is happening on the ground of the story you see in ancient near east a wealthy individual would have his estate his wealth his enterprises all managed by a trusted and highly capable individual called a manager you could think ceo and cfo combined well this rich owner in the story finds out one day that his manager has been doing a very poor job the details aren't given only that he was wasting the owner's wealth verse 1. and that word wasting it's the same word as in the prodigal parable where he was he was squandering his father's inheritance so the master in the parable of luke 16 he called his manager in and he confronted him and the conversation was rather quick the manager didn't apparently defend himself perhaps he couldn't defend himself and so he was fired it was immediately that the manager began to ponder what shall i do now i'm not good at digging i'm too proud to beg what shall i do he began racking his brain and then it hit him i've got it in the brief span of time between being informed that he was fired and then actually being terminated like you know hand over the books get out of the office you're escorted out of the building he decides to take his master's books and ledgers and to meet with those who owe the master money he meets with one guy he says how much you owe my master he says a hundred measures of oil he says here right fifty fifty percent off the debt he says to another how much do you owe them uh a hundred what is it measures of wheat verse seven all right right eighty twenty percent discount and apparently these were massive amounts in these days they make no sense to us but these were massive amounts hence they were massive debts hence they were massive discounts can you imagine being on the other side of the table and this manager says you don't know that much anymore now you owe half as much or 20 less man you you wouldn't you'd think oh thank you i owe you now some scholars suggest that something was going on here with interest on these loans or with the managers cut regarding these loans and some scholars suggested hence this manager wasn't exactly stealing from his master he was just making good business moves for all involved well i'm not at all convinced by those attempts jesus himself says that this manager was a dishonest manager in verse 8. what he did was dishonest what he did was wrong what he did was stealing it was sneaky it was underhanded it was self-serving but it was shrewd it was shrewd humanly speaking not ethically but humanly speaking just as far as pragmatics go it was a brilliant move on the chessboard of life he would now have no problem gaining new employment with one of these debtors after his termination but something even better happened the master heard what the manager did verse 8 the master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness what is shrewdness i had to look it up to make sure the oxford english dictionary says of the positive definition of shrewdness it's being clever or keen witted in practical affairs the word can be positive or negative we can speak of a shrewd criminal or we can speak of a shrewd businessman bad guy good guy right and the same is true in the bible in the greek translation of the old testament the septuagint this is the greek word for the infamous description of satan in the garden remember he was crafty bad guy but it's also the word that's often used in proverbs for wisdom and being wise good guys in the new testament the greek word can be good or bad again you can see romans 12 16 do not be haughty that's bad guy stuff but matthew 10 jesus says be wise as serpents and harmless as doves well this manager in luke 16 wasn't harmless as a dove but he was as wise as a serpent he was shrewd he made a move that would not only ingratiate himself to his master's competitors but would have also ingratiated the master to those competitors and those debtors you see the debtors didn't know that the manager wasn't any longer representing his master they have no reason to know that it's not public yet he's not actually thrown out of the office yet so when the master finds out what happened what are the options here go through with the termination well then this shrewd man will be scooped up by the by a competitor in a heartbeat and then his shrewdness will benefit them not me go through with the termination well then the the debtors are going to learn that it wasn't my idea and i'm not as nice as they now think i am and so he smiles he shakes his head he says i gotta hand it to you man that was good that is quite a move i didn't see that coming it was a brilliant chess move humanly speaking not ethically speaking and that's the key the owner wasn't commending the manager's dishonesty but his ingenuity his creativity his timing his shrewdness his shrewdness was commended despite his dishonesty not because of it so this manager is he good guy or bad guy well he's both he's a dishonest manager who was remarkably shrewd and is that really that unusual is that really unfamiliar to us have you never been fascinated by the shrewdness of clever criminals in a movie am i the only one who loves watching perfectly executed heists i love crime movies i don't know why i think it's in all of us isn't it have you never marveled at the audacity and creativity and ingenuity of the mob and drug lords and kingpins and jewel thiefs well we shouldn't marvel at those things in such a way that we want to join their ranks we shouldn't marvel at those things in such a way that we no longer see the immorality in their actions but jesus himself tells us that there's something for us to learn from them jesus the son of god says you could learn a thing or two from them he says in the second half of verse 8 for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light the sons of light are jesus followers christians they just like everyone else were born as sons of darkness but by god's grace and through jesus death and resurrection and faith in him they've been rescued by jesus and they've been transferred from a kingdom of darkness to a kingdom of light they are now children of light because their savior is the light that's all good real good but jesus says that his followers at times can be naive they can be short-sighted they can be at times a little too passive uncreative a little dull a little less strategic than their worldly counterparts jesus says to his disciples it's amazing if not breathtaking you could learn a thing or two from a shady businessman like this guy oh not how to be shady but to learn from his boldness in audacity in creativity and timing and strategy as george w used to say his shrewdness well that's the parable and hopefully it's less perplexing now than it was when we first began but then jesus explains secondly we see a proverbial explanation a proverbial explanation it's proverbial not that jesus offers any advice from the book of proverbs specifically but what he says in verses 9 to 13 are proverb like they're proverbial they are sayings of wisdom they are axioms of truth related to the parable he just told you see verses 9 to 13 we've got five verses there we've got five proverbial teachings which help us further understand and apply the parable especially in verse nine so we want to give careful attention to verse nine one because it's closest to the parable explaining it the most but also because it's the most confusing verse 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 now i gotta admit by tuesday of last week i was still shaking my head at verse nine and then i think you know you get enough clarity on it and you can't see it any other way it seems so obvious so let me help you out let's start with the word friends in verse 9. make friends for yourselves who are these friends that we're to make well friends that's a word that has occurred four times in the previous two chapters in luke in chapter 14 verses 12 to 14 the parable that we'll see at our lord's supper service on wednesday there friends have been invited to the great banquet to celebrate friends and then in the three parables that we find in chapter 15 remember all parables related to something being lost and then being found in each case after the thing is found there is a great celebration with friends and each of the parables friends are celebrating what was lost is now found so it's probably safe to assume that friends in our chapter mean something similar it's those who celebrate with us that the lost has been found they're fellow christians and notice at the end of verse 9 it says that they may receive you into the eternal dwellings that's heaven so we're talking about friends one day in heaven friends who welcome us in friends that we have made jesus says make friends but he also says make friends by means of unrighteous wealth what's that well unrighteous wealth doesn't mean ill-gotten gain it doesn't mean drug money or the like it just means worldly wealth it just means unspiritual currency it means the money of this world money and stuff so jesus is saying use your money and your stuff to gain friends for the kingdom that money and stuff will fail notice that it will fail it will end when you end you can't take it with you but while you have it use it for the gaining of eternal friends who will be in heaven to welcome you in and celebrate with you isn't that what jesus did isn't he this kind of friend he didn't pay for us to be his friends he gave his life the ultimate price to make us his friends he said in john 15 verse 13 there is no greater love than this that a man lays down his life for his friends that's what jesus did on that cross he died for our sins and guilt he took our place and he took our punishment and he made us through faith his friends we're not just forgiven if we believe but we are we're restored we're reconciled we're friends and so now jesus wants us his friends to do something similar for others not to die for them not to make payment for their sins but to give and to love and to care in a variety of ways so that when we meet again in heaven it will not only be a sweet reunion but they will thank us for what we did and what we gave and what we said that helps them humanly speaking enter in to heaven so when you get to heaven believer who will be there to greet you and welcome you and say thank you will anyone thank you for your part in their voyage to the celestial city however small of a part you played how have you invested time and treasures and talents for people for heaven do you see how this verse verse 9 connects to the parable verse 9 makes a further argument a practical argument for gospel shrewdness it points to the heavenly welcoming committee it's essentially saying how big is your welcoming committee you see the world knows how to do something decisive and smart and quick and sharp in view of the future and really for them it's for themselves and it's for money the world knows how to smartly turn something to see a payment on the other side and so how much more should we with heaven in view and friends in view the world knows how to think about getting things done analyzing you see the men in the plane not just men women as well i mean they're i see them they're emailing like crazy they're the last ones to close the laptop they're the first ones to get on the phone once it landed [Music] money money money money i could learn a thing or two i like watching movies on planes instead criminal movies no doubt right but think of it learn from criminals the next time you watch a good criminal movie here's your assignment look for their strategy look for their shrewdness we christians could learn a thing or two about those opportunistic thieves that are always watching for the slightest opening in the window and they do it for a little bit of this and what we're after are friends in heaven that'll be there forever that deserves gospel shrewdness let me just paint the picture and give some concrete examples of gospel shrewdness gospel shrewdness is when a young successful suburbanite family in albuquerque decides to move to a north african city where there are only a few christians and no churches and they set up a business in a stealth like way because they're not only there to help on a humanitarian level through that business but they are there to share the gospel with others that they might become friends eternal friends that's shrewd you know what shrewd when some albuquerque engineers see a problem with unclean water down in guatemala where we minister and they invent a water filtration system and then bring it door to door to door to door to show that we not only care for your soul but also for your body but we also care for your soul so let me tell you about jesus that's shrewd gospel shrewdness is when everyday christians just think 10 steps that are needed to get toward a gospel conversation with this friend or that co-worker because you don't want to just be obnoxious and you know it's you want to show that you actually care and you can be their their friend and so you think how do we get there how do the conversations go how what will i bring up next that we might one day get to something eternal that we might be eternal friends in jesus gospel shrewdness is a mom that knows that her little children are in eternal investment and that her little ones could influence generations and thousands either for good or for ill and so teach them well gospel shrewdness is a businessman who loves to make more money so he can give more and share more and he's good at it it's a college student who sees their campus as their mission field or a skateboarder who sees the skatepark as his mission field gospel shrewdness is local church elders who meet weekly at six a.m for hours to pray and think and discuss and analyze and strategize about how to be more effective with gospel ministry gospel shrewdness is also just the routine sacrificial financial support of a local church that many of you give so faithfully it astounds me that i we meet a budget of almost 3 million dollars just just because you and i we just we just give to him we just commit to give to it there's some gospel shrewdness to that we we need gospel shrewdness to use that three million dollars wisely gospel shrewdness is also financially supporting a church's fight facility expansion project ever heard of next just go to dscabq.com next to learn more well i shouldn't joke gospel shrewdness is giving to a church's facility renovation project not because church buildings are eternal they're not not because church buildings somehow save people they can but because church buildings are convenient space for conversations and sermons in bible studies and prayers where lives are changed and i'm thankful for the gospel shrewdness of a group of men who led this church back decades ago to bring this building to bear for us to use today we've used it well for the last couple decades and we just need to we need to make some adjustments to to use it better i praise god for all the gospel shrewdness that i see in this church and and i want more of it i mean this passage just makes me excited i want to go rob something no no i'm just kidding i don't too far but i i want to go do something big and strategic and outside the box for the kingdom of god that we talk about as friends in heaven in eternity well jesus goes on in the following verses and we can deal with these more quickly because they're more clear versus 10 and following notice verse 10 one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful and much you see one who can be trusted in the handling of something small might then be trusted with something big and here when jesus speaks of something that's very little you know what he's talking about money and possessions your stuff he calls that very little not the big stuff the world says that's the big stuff jesus says hey if you can handle money and possessions for the kingdom i got big things for you in these eternal dwellings in verse 11 he talks about unrighteous wealth again which doesn't mean wicked money it just means secular money it just means everyday money that you're used to using if you've been faithful with that then you might be faithful with true riches but if you're not faithful with the lesser then why should you think you have any business with the greater some of us think that if we had more then we'd give more if i only made x amount then of course i'd begin to give to others and to my church no you wouldn't you wouldn't where your treasure is there your heart will be also people don't learn to be generous only once they have a little more they have the same heart they had when they were poor they only now have with riches more temptations i know of one dear lady in this church who shares some of her food stamps with her needy neighbors that's humbling now none of this means that we should all give the same amount the bible doesn't even give a required percentage in these these new testament days but it does give principles for all of us that we give generously and worshipfully and happily and sacrificially and routinely verse 12 and if you've not been faithful in that which is another's who will give you that which is your own all that we have in this life all that you own all that you earn all that is talent and ability and skill all of that is not only a gift from god the bible does say that it's a gift it uses that word gift it's all a gift that'd be a good place to start to just think in terms of everything's a gift but it's not only a gift the bible also talks about everything we have not being ours but gods it speaks of stewardship we are stewards we are managers of the master's resources we've been entrusted with those resources to put them to use for the master's good so we should do it faithfully and we should do it strategically and creatively and wisely effectively shrewdly and we should do it in an undistracted undivided way because of verse 13 no servant can serve two masters for he will hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve god and money god and money can coexist in your life in fact they do but they can't co-exist without one in service to the other without one being at the steering wheel without one being the master and the other being the servant everything you have everything you are every bit of ability and skill that you have is not only a gift from god it's a stewardship it's his and he gave it to you and that means that everything in your life is either a tool for him and his purposes or it's an idol it's either a tool for his glory or it's an idol for our own glory i wonder if some are here today who would hear all that and you'd be tempted to just smirk to shake your head to laugh to think you silly christians you really are just what i thought silly i can imagine a skeptic hearing all this and thinking to myself and thinking to themselves i'd rather go join the clever criminals than you people with this pie in the sky my money is god's money kind of stuff well you're not alone in fact that's what happens next in our passage people ridicule jesus we come to this thirdly appointed repudiation appointed repudiation really we could call it a mutual repudiation between two parties verse 14 the pharisees who were lovers of money heard all these things and they ridiculed him and he said to them you are those who justify yourselves before men but god knows your hearts for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of god these religious leaders these pharisees you probably know they were committed and strict in their religious performance but they were hypocrites they were lovers of money and so they hated what jesus had been saying about money they ridiculed him and probably ridiculed him because he was poor you see they had a certain theology of money not totally unlike the health wealth and prosperity preachers of today the pharisees believed that wealth was a mark of blessing in one's life because of their obedience the faith preachers say that the blessing is there because of your great faith or because you gave a lot but very similarly these pharisees thought it was obedience that garnered financial blessing and so the more holy one was the more financially blessed he should be and this is how they justified themselves before men oh they gave to the poor like they're supposed to do but the rest they hoarded it they showed it off it was the mark of their holiness and their blessing from god but jesus couldn't disagree more jesus says what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of god these aren't kinda close you don't need just a little bit of a tweak to get to jesus way of thinking about your stuff is total upside down different ends of the polarity the pharisees ridiculed jesus and they shouldn't have i mean this parable was really really good for them it was told to the disciples yes but it was in the hearing of the pharisees and they are ones that responded to it but oh how they needed it because they had severely mismanaged their master's resources not least the people of israel that they didn't care for they cared for themselves and the master was saying to them time's up you're caught you've mismanaged my funds and there's this brief moment where they could be shrewd if they would do something quick and radical and in their best interests but they wouldn't but some did you see you don't have to repudiate jesus today and you don't have to be repudiated by jesus let me show you one more verse verse 16. we didn't read it earlier but look down in your bibles if they're still open in the middle of verse 16 it says the good news of the kingdom of god is preached and everyone forces his way into it of course we don't we know that doesn't mean everyone the pharisees weren't but practically outside of them so many were is what it means so many were forcing their way into the kingdom tax collectors sinners eating with jesus prodigals coming home lost coins found they're all forcing their way into the kingdom not that they have to force their way in or you know find a back door and sneak their way in or muscle their way in no it's like it's like little girls showing up to a beatles concert and they're trying to push through the door that's not big enough for the crowd that's that's showing up that's the picture of entering the kingdom of god you enter free and come in and you might find yourself shoulder to shoulder and shoulder to shoulder with others that one day you will be friends in heaven with i wonder would today be a day where by god's grace for the first time you would find yourself forced in to the kingdom because you've heard this morning the gospel has been preached to you this gospel of the kingdom is good news that jesus died in the place for sinners and was raised in the third day so that if you believe in that you trust in that that's your hope that's what you're you're leaning on then you're in you become his friend you're reconciled to him heaven is your future and perhaps one day friends will be there waiting for you when you enter in brothers and sisters in christ this gospel should lead to a new and wonderful outlook on your work on your money on your life on eternity on time on money and stuff and how you view others and how you view your church and how you view your mission in this world no matter what your job is this gospel in this heavenly hope should give us a new and wonderful outlook on strategy and shrewdness for jesus sake so let's pray yes lord give us more shrewdness we thank you for what we see in this church we thank you for those who are great examples in being shrewd for your ways in this world make us all more shrewd like this lord keep us from sin while we're also growing in our shrewdness and lord we pray that jesus today would be a friend of sinners in this room perhaps for some for the very first time we pray as we sing this song that all of us would be able to sing it in truth and in faith and it truly reflect our hearts and our lives and our belief maybe so for jesus sake amen understand and respond [Music] jesus what a friend for sinners jesus lover of my soul friends may fail me for me he might say your makes me [Music] he is with me [Music] jesus what a strength and we can stand behind myself [Music] my victory [Music] is [Music] [Music] my [Music] jesus i do now receive him more than all in him i find he hath granted me forgiveness i am is and he is [Music] hallelujah [Music] he is so could you sing it could you sing it and it's true of you that you have a savior today would you believe if you haven't yet if you're stuck if you've got questions let us know we've been there before every christian was at one point trying to figure this out perhaps today you just acknowledge that you're seeking jesus out and perhaps with a little bit of help you might find out today that he's actually seeking you out and bringing you in so ron mentioned earlier that we'll have pastors up front we have them here every sunday we're here to greet you to meet you if you're new to answer any questions that you might have about this jesus especially if you're not yet a believer let us know how we can help and brothers and sisters let's leave this place with a new confidence in our good savior and new eagerness about the shrewdness with which we should approach his mission in view of eternity and i'm thankful for you my friends so let's come back this wednesday for our lord's supper at 6 30 we have this once a month and it'll be a sweet time for us to be friends together to wait for the lord together and to remember the lord's death until he comes you're dismissed

Channel: DESERT SPRINGS CHURCH

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Id: -8ZSkQbGbYo

Length: 91min 40sec (5500 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 22 2021