A rich man and his naive manager (Luke 16:1-16)

Context of the story

Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. Jesus knew that his time was approaching to be taken up to heaven. (Luke 9:51) On the way, he stopped at a tax collector's house and met his friends. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law grumbled at Jesus' welcoming sinners. So he welcomed them and told three parables- A man with 100 sheep, a woman with 10 silver coins, and a man with two sons. He told stories of God's longing for his sons and daughters to be restored.

After that Jesus told them a story about a rich man and his manager to his disciples. This is a private conversation between Jesus and his disciples. At the same time, the Pharisees came and listened to the story as well. (v. 1, 14) So this story is addressed both to Jesus' disciples and to religious leaders.

Here is our plan. We will look at the story briefly and talk about two things: 1. Who we are before God and 2. Who God is.

Let's pray. "Dear Lord, thank you for your grace and hiring us as your managers. It is purely by your grace that we have been entrusted with your wealth. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, My Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19). Grant us your words. I pray in your son's name. Amen."

The story

The story began with a manager who was about to be fired due to wasting his master's possessions. What did this manager do? He concocted a scheme, He called all the master's debtors and generously reduced their debts. He wanted a place to go after his termination. It seems that this manager wasted more of the master's possessions.

The surprise is that the master commended this dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly (8) God commending the dishonest manager? Let's look at the story in details.

Who we are before God

1. We are disciples. (1) This story tells us that Jesus is talking to his disciples. This story is for anyone who has accepted Jesus as their Lord. This story is for those who want to follow Jesus and learn of him and grow in his character.

2. We are managers and servants. We think that disciples are those who just follow and study the word of God day and night. That's very true. But Jesus is saying here that we need to understand that disciples are managers of God's wealth.

When God calls us we do not become shrewd managers over night. Instead this is a process. At first we do not know how to manage well. As a result, we

• waste the master's possessions (1)

• are about to be fired due to our mismanagement (2)
  

• are not strong enough to dig and too proud to beg (3)

Please note who we are before God. It is not that we are strong and humble that God called us to be his disciples. We are not strong and only proud but God showed his grace. It is purely God's grace that we become his disciples.

• are naive compared to worldly people (8)

Jesus' assessment of us is that compared to worldly people we are not that shrewd. I know some girls who are so focused on what kind of life that they will have. What kind of major they will pursue. What kind of husband they will have and what kind of condo they will buy. They plan and execute flawlessly. But on the other hand some brothers of us who follow Jesus including my self are not that shrewd.

The people of God are not sometimes honest. The people of the world are very honest. When they pursue their ambitions, they make sure that everyone knows what they are going for but the people of the light are not like this. We pretend to be religious and mask our desires. For example, when we say,"I will pray for you but never pray for anyone." The people of the world will at least text message you instead of praying for you. This is Jesus' wake up call for us. We need to admit that we are not shrewd. Then we can ask for God's wisdom.

Even though we are so bad, God extended his mercy and hired us as his managers. In his grace we become managers. When we are hired as managers, we are entrusted with the small things of God (10) Even though God knows that we will waste God's resources, God entrusts us with his wealth. It is purely by God's grace that we have what we have. God gives us his job. This is God's stimulus package. To some, he gives us calculus class. To some, a family and a job. To some, a ministry. The master entrusts us with small things. What we have is not ours. They are all God's. We thank God for his grace and provision. This eliminates any pride in us.

In serving God, we try to serve two masters. The Bible says, "We cannot serve both God and money."(13) We are not shrewd and sometimes foolish and think that we can handle two things at the same time. It is like watching a movie and reading a book. Is it possible. I tried but failed both. We had the image of God (Gen 1:27) so we are made to serve God. But after we sinned we become materialistic. We do not live in God's house anymore so we want to have some certainty. We value money more than God. One servant of God told me that we value $5 in our pocket more than our faith in God's unfailing love. This is true. We cannot multitask. We are living in this multi tasking environment-- driving the car, text messaging, eating a hamburger, watching a DVD and talking at the same time. No we can only serve one master. We have one heart. One husband. One wife and one master. Due to our pride and foolishness we do not acknowledge our God as our only master. We are like sheep who can get easily lost. We need Jesus' reminder again and again. We have only one master. We have only one solid rock which is Jesus.

Let's think of God who hired us. Let's learn about God.

Who God is

God is a rich master God has eternal dwellings and true riches (9, 11) Who can say that my house will last forever. Only our God can say that. He is also saying that I have true riches. Every good thing is from God. He pours out his grace for us. His wealth is so great that he hires some dishonest managers and trains them.

Jesus called his disciples out of God's richness. They were not qualified. But Jesus called them. God can be generous because he is rich. When you are poor, you cannot be generous. God hired a not so good and dishonest manager. He trusted us with his wealth. When the manager squandered God's wealth, he did not immediately fire him. He gave him a second chance so that this manager could figure things out and find his next job. He gave this dumb manager an opportunity to be shrewd in dealing with the people. God did not get upset when the manager acted selfishly and canceled the master's debts. Instead he commended this dishonest manager. Do you see God's incredible patience and mercy for us. Our God is not there to fire us immediately. He is not like one grocery store owner. God wants to give us eternal dwellings God wants to entrust his property and give us property of our own (12)

What God is doing to his disciples is that God has hope for his servants so that they do not stay servants forever. They will have their houses and properties their of own.

God wants us to be shrewd. . God is hard sometimes when we squander his wealth. He will fire you. But his termination notice is to make us shrewd servants of God who know how to handle small things well so that we can handle big things for God -the true riches of God are mercy and forgiveness and his eternal dwellings.

God knows our hearts and values shrewdness. Look at verses 14-15. "The Pharisees who loved money heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is destable in God's sight."

These verses are given to the Bible teachers. At this time we must examine what we value. Do we value God's promise or $5 in our pocket?

We are too smart for our own good. Sometimes we do not open up to God even in our prayers and meditations. We do not disclose everything. We pretend that we are not sinners. We think that we can fool God like we can fool our naive and ever trusting parents. We are so used to justifying ourselves in the eyes of men that we pretend to not have issues and pretend that we are all put together perfectly. We do this even to God thinking that we can fool God.

But the Bible it says that God knows our hearts. He knows us because he made us. We are who we are. By nature we squander God's wealth. We are not that honest. We value money more than God.

Let's look at verse 8 again. "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly" We value honesty. I value authentic relationships. I like one guy because he is very transparent. I know what he wants and he makes sure that everyone knows what he wants.

I have a very difficult time with those who are not honest. I do not like them. I do not like those who say one thing and act differently. But God who knows our hearts and overlooked this manager's dishonest and selfish motives but commended his shrewdness. Here I learned that God values shrewdness. Do not misunderstand me. Honesty is important but God overlooked this man's dishonesty and valued his shrewdness very highly.

This story is full of surprises. Why did God tell this story to his disciples. God wants his disciples to learn of Jesus. Jesus is the most shrewd manager. God values his Son's shrewdness. Jesus was entrusted with God's life and wealth. God did not give him much but some small things such as his mother Mary and father Joseph. But he did not complain about his poor life. Instead he thanked God and used what was given from God. Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. (Luke 2:52). He used his time to make friends with the sinners and tax collectors. He knew God's heart. So he acted very shrewdly when he welcomed the sinners and ate with them. So Jesus could lead them to God and to his eternal dwelling and God's true love for them. On the other hand, the Pharisees did not see Jesus; shrewdness. They regarded Jesus' action of welcoming sinners highly offensive. They loved money more than God. They did not use their money to bring their friends to God. Instead they extracted money from others.

Because of Jesus' shrewd love for us God can look over our inborn dishonesty and commend us when we follow our Lord Jesus' examples of going after the lost and welcoming them. We use our God given life and opportunity so that we can bring our friends to God. Our motive is not 100% pure all the time but God commends those who act shrewdly and do God's management. This shrewd act of Jesus is our salvation. This is our righteousness. God overlooks our dishonesty and commends us when we believe Jesus' death and resurrection for our righteousness. When God commends this shrewd manager, God is saying to his disciples, learn from my shrewd Son.

We are slow and stingy to forgive others even though God forgave all our sins. We are hot tempered and so self centered. But God uses us like his son to bring people to eternal dwellings.

Jesus told us that God made us his disciples not because we are good but because his mercy. Even though we are bad, God gives us many small things to take care of in the hope that we become shrewd managers of God's true riches.

God wants us to manage even God's eternal house. He wants to have us and eat joyfully with us. He wants to commend us, "You have done an excellent job. You have managed my wealth well and you extended my forgiveness to your friends. Come and enjoy my reward."

This morning I want to talk about God's hope for you. Did you see how God looks at you? We are not sure and not certain and sometimes feel inadequate in carrying out God's work. But let's see how God looks at us and commends us when we put our trust in Jesus' shrewd work of finding the lost. Let's see Jesus' shrewd move of going to Jerusalem.

Let's pray that God can give us his grace and his wisdom to extend God's mercy to others. In God we are rich. In God we are generous. In God, we are changed from dishonest and poor managers to managers of God's eternal dwellings and God's true riches. God called us because he wants to transform us from naive disciples to shrewd disciples of Jesus.

Let's pray. "God you are so good to us. Even though we squander your wealth and are so naive, you gives us your grace and entrust us with your wealth. Help us to value your richness. We are blind people who only value what we have. Thank you for your grace of hiring us and using us your servants. Give us new hearts and new desires to serve you and love you more than we love money. Help us to know that you are our master. Help me to give my heart to you daily. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen."