Download In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost +

Trinity 9 – July 20th, 2008 – Luke 16:1-13
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost +
What a strange story we hear from Christ Jesus our Lord. The hero, if you
will, of the story is a dishonest manager. He is cheating his boss, gets caught, and
decides to cheat him even more. What a strange tale, what a strange parable. Let’s
look at it, ponder what our Lord is trying to teach us.
So, there is a dishonest manager, and this manager is charged with the
accusation of wasting his master’s possessions. He’s been lousy, shady in his
dealings. And so the rich man who is his boss says to him, “What is this that I
hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer
be manager.” Guy gets fired. He is supposed to go home, gather up the books,
turn them in, and get his walking papers. And hearing this judgment against him,
he doesn’t pout, he doesn’t get indignant, he doesn’t shake a fist. Rather, he
pauses and reflects. “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.” This
man pauses, takes stock of the situation, without anger, without mindless panic.
This man is honest about himself – I’m up the creek without a paddle. And then,
he hatches his plan. “I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from
management, people may receive me into their houses.” So he goes to the people
who owe his master debts, and while he still has the books, while he still can
legally change what they owe – he does. Of note – 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.” Now, the measure that they are referring
to here is equal to a bit over 1000 bushels of wheat. Here – save 20,000 bushels of
wheat, that’s my discount to you. It’s a hefty chunk. And the man does this
because he figures he can play the great game of I’ve scratched your back, now
how about you scratch mine.
And then we get the verse that seems bizarre. 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. Commended, how can
one commend a dishonest steward – how can Jesus even try to take anything from
this? It focuses on one word. Shrewd.
So, what does it mean to be shrewd? It’s not a word that we use commonly.
In fact, I’d be surprised if any of you ended up using the word this past week. To
be shrewd generally refers to making solid and intelligent business deals because
you see and understand what is going on. T. Boone Pickens is a shrewd
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businessman – 3 or 4 years ago he was talking about how oil prices were going to
explode, and he was right, and he’s made even more money hand over foot
because of it. Shrewd. He saw what was coming, and he acted in a way to benefit
from what was coming.
The dishonest manager in our Lord’s story was shrewd. He saw what was
coming. He knew he was going to get fired. He didn’t pretend, he didn’t live in
la-la land, denying the cold, hard truth. He understood what being fired would
mean, and understood that he was not prepared as of yet for the consequences. I
won’t be able to find another job – I had best do something. He was shrewd – he
did something that was a benefit to him. He still had the books – he had legal
authority to give discounts. If you are a salesman, you have some authority to
slash prices to close a deal. When I worked in customer service at a bank, I had
the ability to cancel overdraft charges, if it would help encourage a customer to
keep his accounts with us. This ability to cut prices, to cancel debts, is something
that this manager would have – and so he uses it while he still has it. What he does
is legal, is binding, would stand up in court – and ends up being for his benefit.
And even the rich man must say, “Yes, that was shrewd.” This dishonest manager
doesn’t operate under delusions – he sees clearly and acts accordingly.
And our Lord ends up lamenting that the sons of this world, the people who
aren’t Christian, end up being more shrewd, end up seeing and acting more clearly
than the sons of light do. So let’s ponder the question that our Lord presents. Are
you shrewd? And we aren’t going to talk about your shrewd or unshrewd business
dealings – but rather this. As regards your faith, are you shrewd?
The sons of this world, they are shrewd in dealing with their own generation,
dealing with the things of this life. But you, oh child of light, are you shrewd in
dealing with the things of your eternal life? That is what Christ is asking. Are
shrewd, do you see clearly on matters of faith, on your spiritual health, or are your
eyes blinded or focused elsewhere? Are you acting in accordance with who you
are in Christ, are you doing what you ought to be doing as a Christian – or are you
letting things slide? As regards your faith, are you being shrewd?
Now, Christ will contrast this by saying, “You cannot serve God and
money.” So here is the contrast. Is your focus, O Christian, on the things of God,
or on money, mammon, the things of this life that the sons of this world are so
concerned about? So let’s examine. Do you see your own situation rightly? Guy
in the story knew he was in trouble. When you look at your own spirituality, do
you see any troubles? Do you look at yourself honestly and see places where you
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are weak, where you need to improve, where you need to struggle and do better?
Or are you smug and content, do you say, eh, I’m a pretty good person? Or, even
worse, do you not look at all – are you so concerned with the things of this life that
you don’t even pause to examine your spiritual life – are you too busy for God?
Do you have to wring your hands over whether or not there is enough time in your
busy schedule to let God have even one morning a week on Sunday? Do you
conveniently forget all that God has taught when it comes to your dealings with
your neighbor during the week?
This is one of the major problems that Christians have, one of the major
traps that we can fall into. We stop examining ourselves, and so we don’t
recognize what is going on in our lives. We lose our vigilance, we just assume that
we’re okay and sin creeps in, and our focus slowly shifts away from the things of
God, and matters of faith take more and more of a back seat. Are you as diligent
for God as you once were? Do you study as hard as you once did? Or have things
just sort of slacked off? That’s not shrewd at all – and that can lead to your faith
being shaken. Take time, study yourself, examine the Word – see and understand
your need.
And indeed, there is the greater part of a Christian’s shrewdness –
recognizing what it is that you need in order to be prepared for the future. The
dishonest manager understands his lack, but is prepared to spend the future living
off of the generosity of others. You, O Christian, when you understand your lack,
when you see how you constantly need to work, to improve, to repent – you will be
prepared to live off of the forgiveness of sins generously given to you by Christ.
There is no wheddling or tomfoolery that you must pull off to get this – but rather
Christ simply calls you to His House to receive His blessings. He calls you here
for forgiveness, so that you are prepared for all eventualities, so that you are sure
and confident in your future for all eternity, so that you don’t drift away and be lost
because of senseless wandering, but are rather kept firmly in the faith all of your
days.
Ponder with me, just for a moment, this Supper which our Lord will give to
us in just a few moments. Think on what a fantastic gift it is. Christ presents us
with His own Body and Blood – says here, share in My life, participate fully in Me
and I in you. Receive full forgiveness of sins – and even receive this often, over
and over again, so that you always have it, so that you know and see and taste that
I am always with you. Do you see how diligent, do you see how shrewd our Lord
is? He is constantly making provision for the continued strengthening of your
faith! He has laid it all out for you, He has done all the work, He simply gives
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freely – behold, you have salvation – take and eat, behold you have forgiveness,
take and drink. It’s all done. This is God’s wisdom, this is God’s mercy, this is
His bounty of love towards you. His generosity and love banish all thoughts of
fear – there will not come a time when this Supper is no longer served, at least not
until we reach the heavenly feast. Rather this, always, over and over, be forgiven,
be forgiven, be united to Christ. Its wondrous – and the sad part is we can get so
caught up in things of this life that we can blow by it – or we can even shrug
Church and the Lord’s Supper off – when if we actually thought and recognized
and understood what happens here, if we were shrewd, we would know that this
Supper is the most awesome thing any of get to experience in any given week.
And so our Lord calls out to you today, and He encourages you to be
shrewd. Take stock of your own life – see to it that you are not neglecting the
study of God’s Word, see to it that you are not overlooking creeping sin which
threatens to destroy you. Rather, be shrewd and wise, come gladly to God’s House
not only to hear and learn His Word, but to receive Christ’s forgiveness, to partake
of His Holy Supper given for you – to have and know that all things are eternally
prepared for you. Amen.
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