A Smart Man—Good or Bad
Prelude
Ushers will collect Prayer cards during the first hymn.
Welcome
Call to Worship
“It is good for me to draw near to God:
I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works” (Ps. 73:28 KJV).
*Praise # 526 God of our Fathers
*Invocation (Lord’s Prayer) Father, we approach you in worship trembling, for we are sinners, yet in bold gladness, for we are your beloved children. May our time together mold us even closer to the image of your dear Son, Jesus. Strengthen us in our walk with you that we will be able servants this week.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
*Gloria Patri (Sung together) #575
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
Psalm for Today Psalm 113 NRSV
1 Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord; praise the name of the Lord.
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time on and forevermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised.
4 The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high,
6 who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.
9 He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!
Our Offering to God “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Pet. 1:22 NIV).
*Doxology #572
*Prayer of Dedication O God, give us today keen insight to see the work of Christ among us and around us. May we choose him, steadfastly follow him, and be good stewards of your gifts to us. We give these offerings in his name.
Scripture Reading 1 Timothy 2:1-7 NRSV
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all —this was attested at the right time. 7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
*Hymn of Prayer # 486 Jesus Saves
Pastoral Prayer Loving God, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer of everything, we thank you for the joy of all creation on this holy day. As we have come to worship you today, Lord, each of us comes with our own deep feelings and inner thoughts that sometimes only you know. So we bring these feelings and thoughts to you, seeking your comfort and wisdom, and also bringing them as one of the ways of acknowledging your participation in our lives. We know that we are all your children and that we find our meaning and reason for being within you. We pray for persons who are in situations of oppression and abuse. We ask that you give these persons strength to rise up in your name and to free themselves. We pray for persons who are ill and perhaps are in treatment. We pray for them, as their bodies fight whatever is invading their body. We pray for persons who have lost loved ones and ask that you help them to know your presence and give them comfort in their grief. We pray, Lord, for relationships where there is conflict between or among any persons, for we know that it is your will that peace be present. We ask that your healing grace be wherever there is conflict. We have come together today in your name. Free us from whatever binds us, so we may worship you in spirit and in truth. These things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.—Peggy Goochey
*Hymn of Praise # 463
Once to Every Man and Nation
Scripture Text Luke 16:1-13 NRSV
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer. 3 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes. / 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ / 8 And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. / 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. //
10 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Message A Smart Man—Good or Bad
Jesus tells a story about a manager who may be fired.
The manager is being investigated by his employer, who wants an account of his work. Realizing he is certain to lose his job, the manager gets various customers to mark down their bills! In this way he hopes to make friends who will look after him in the future.
Although the manager is a thoroughly bad character, Jesus commends his realism. At least he faces the crisis and takes immediate action.[1]////
The interviewer had traveled all the way to New York to interview him about preaching. Sitting in his living room, the young man was thrilled to be visiting with one of the most effective media ministers of all times. When television was young, he appeared in prime time on Sunday evenings, teaching the Bible. He was fully sponsored by Admiral Corp. His broadcasts appeared opposite Frank Sinatra and Milton Berle, the biggest stars of his day. His audience was between fifteen to twenty million viewers. In 1952, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences named Fulton Sheen the most outstanding personality of television. When accepting the award, he said, "I want to thank my writers .... Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John."
"You have come to New York to talk to me about preaching? I cannot talk to you about preaching. I do not know what to say. Preaching is a gift. It is like being a beautiful woman. She is not responsible for having her beauty, but she is very responsible for what she does with it."
Everything we have is a gift from God. Our time, talents, and resources are all gifts from God.
Like beauty and brilliance, we are not responsible for having them, but we are very responsible for what we do with them. Our salvation, our lives are gifts of God’s grace. The Bible teaches that Christians can manage these gifts in a manner resulting in our attaining unlimited, unfading, guaranteed riches./////
This is the theme of one of our Lord’s most puzzling parables. Jesus told His disciples about a rich man who had a slave acting as steward like Joseph in Potiphar’s house in the Genesis story. The steward was responsible for managing his master’s vast holdings. Someone suggested to the rich man that his steward was mishandling the money ... squandering it and spending it indiscriminately. The steward was called on the carpet and told to settle his affairs, get the books in order, and get out.
In wide-eyed panic, this dishonest manager began to ponder his future. "What in the world will I do? I am too lazy to work. I am too proud to beg. What will I do?" The wheels in his brain began to turn counter-clockwise ... his brain’s wheels were conditioned to turn in the wrong direction. His mind, greased by greed and expedience, worked rapidly. He thought, "I have it!" I will call in my master’s debtors and reduce their debts, falsifying their accounts. Then because I have helped them, they will be obligated to help me. If they do not feel obligated enough, //I will have material for blackmail because they will have had a part in the crime."
He called the debtors in one by one. "How much do you owe?" "One hundred measures of oil." The steward said, "Then change it to fifty." Another debtor came to his desk. "What is your debt?" "One hundred measures of wheat." "Then take the pen and write down eighty." And so it went.
When the master discovered this trickery, he was, believe it or not, impressed. / Oh, he was disturbed. Certainly, he was angry. And the steward did lose his job. / But, the master was also impressed.
Jesus, author of this story, says there is something in the bad man’s action which is a good example. He said, "This fellow is a shrewd dude. He is a crook, but he is clever in a way you need to emulate."
What is the lesson of this puzzling parable? It is this: Life, as he had experienced it, would soon be over. His days as a free-wheeling spender of another man’s wealth were ending. He took steps to prepare for living beyond that abrupt ending.
In this setting, our Lord teaches us lessons in life management. Here is His emphasis: No matter how much or how little you may have in ability, opportunity, or wealth, you can manage your life in such a way as to be really rich.
If you would be truly successful, you must know that what you have, you have by the grace of God. You must know and live by the laws of life management. Then you will reap the rewards of life management.
What We Have, We Have By The Grace of God
The principles of life management are built on the solid foundation of the grace of Almighty God. In Ephesians 1, this foundation is spelled out in remarkable clarity. The Bible declares we have been selected by the Father because He loves us. We have been saved by the Son who died on the cross because of that love. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, assured of salvation forever, because of the love of our wonderful God and His grace.
Life management is not about getting into heaven. All who come to Christ will be in heaven. This is about reward in heaven. There is nothing you can do to save your soul except turn to God in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
Life management is a principle for Christians. It has to do with living life in such a way as to one day hear the Father say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you will be in authority over very much." Successful living then demands that you know and keep the laws of life management.
The Laws Of Life Management
Law number one is: Do your best with what you have.
It does not matter in God’s eyes how much you have but how well you handle it.
Barnabas is praised for his large gift of land to the early church. The widow is lauded by our Lord for her gift of less than a penny. //Someone said, "I am but one ... but I am one. I cannot do much ... but I can do something. What I can do ... I ought to do. What I ought to do ... by the grace of God, I will do."
The Bible commands, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all to the glory of God." // A shoe cobbler was buried in a Scottish cemetery. His tombstone declared that for fifty years, he had cobbled shoes to the glory of God. // Luke 16:10 says, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much." Eugene Peterson’s translation declares, "If you are honest in small things, you will be honest in big things ... If you are not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store?"
Law number two is: What we manage is not ours.
I read about a strange thief in Hamburg, Germany. There was not a single brick, tile, screw, or nail in his neat little house that had not been stolen. Over a period of two years and by way of eighty different thefts, he acquired every square inch of his house at someone else’s expense. He even admitted that he had stolen the flowers blooming in his front yard. Day by day, bit by bit, he accomplished his theft.
His actions parallel the spiritually crippled behavior of many men and women.
Day by day, they appropriate the things of God .... His air, sunshine, and food.
They take everything He gives and use them for selfish purposes. Actually, they embezzle a life because they give nothing in return. In building their life, every single brick, tile, screw, and nail is stolen.//
All of us are like the steward, handling for awhile the property of another. The Bible declares, "The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.", not even our lives are our own. "In Him we live and move and have our being." Life, breath, and all things come from Him.
Our time, talents, and resources are all His, given by His grace and controlled by His providence. If we are Christians, we have accepted the fact that He is our loving Master, and we will give an accounting to Him.
How sad to see people steal a life from the Master and then realize they are stuck with what they stole.
Do you remember Edwin Markham’s tale of how a wealthy man assigned a contractor friend of his to build a beautiful home? When plans and specifications were agreed upon, the rich man left on an extended trip. The builder, with no one around to check on him, proceeded to cheat on every specification of the house.
Floors, beams, walls, and roof were of the cheapest material and all built on a flimsy and poor foundation. When the rich man returned, he sought out the builder and said, "Keep the keys. They are the keys to your house. You did not know it, but you were building this house for yourself."
A constant warning from God’s Word is this: People who embezzle their lives from God are stuck with what they stole. Life management is to do your best with what you have. It is to know that what we manage is not ours.
Law number three: The things we manage are not true riches.
In verse eleven is a heavy question: "So if you have not been trustworthy handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" The wealth of this world is not true riches because it does not last.
The goods we manage now are temporary. Life’s largest blunder is to act as though this were not so. The Psalmist said, "Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever, their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names." This is sheer mockery. For, as the Bible says of one who lusts after the treasures of earth, "when he dies, he shall carry nothing away."
Alexander the Great was born to one empire and conquered another. He possessed the wealth of both the East and the West. Yet, he commanded that, when carried to his grave, his hands should be left unwrapped and outside the funeral bier so that all might see them empty.
Charlemagne was, at his request, buried sitting on his throne, wearing his crown, robe, and jewels. In his lap was an open Bible, and his dead finger was resting on Mark 8:36: "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul."
Successful life management is a matter of exchanging a life you cannot keep for a life you cannot lose. It is trading the temporary goods of this world for unending, secure treasure. No matter how much or how little you may have in ability, opportunity, or wealth, you can manage your life in such a way as to be really rich.2
I. In this pointed parable the immediately recognizable point is - Get smart! Jesus did not commend the crook. The point of the parable may be read in verses 8b and 9. Think it through. Use what you have. Make the most of every opportunity: “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Develop your ingenuity. Material possessions should be used to cement the relationships of life. Make life easier for your friends. /
The steward was smart, realistic, alert, and he had insight into human nature. Make friends with your money; the miser has no friends, only a fortune. Prepare for the future, but the preparation is not that of placing your money in the strongbox. A time is coming when your money will be a thing of the past. Get smart—good or bad. / The steward was guilty of incompetence and dishonesty, but he was a smart operator.
II. Whether great or small, wealthy or poor, each person is a steward. Our gifts are gifts from God—a trust, not a possession. Jesus had a way of emphasizing little things: a cup of cold water, the one talent. Our lives are made up of little things. It is not the size of the means but the nobility of the end, the intensity of the need. A lantern, of itself, is a small affair but not when it shines as signal in the North Church belfry arch for Paul Revere to start his ride.
He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much. A man’s way of fulfilling a small task is the best proof of his fitness or unfitness to be entrusted with a bigger task. When you are young, be a faithful steward, and it will be easier when you are old. I suppose it depends on whose it is—whose you consider money to be. Jesus describes us as stewards under God.
Houses, lands, money—all belong to another. Money even bears someone else’s signature, someone else’s picture. Jesus in a discussion on taxes, said “Show me a coin. Whose picture is on it? Caesar’s? Then it must belong to someone besides you. Be careful that you do not belong to it.” The factor in stewardship is not how much a man has but how he uses what he has.
III. “No servant can serve two masters.” Divided devotion is clearly impossible. Don’t try it. Many people try it and fail miserably. They have one God on Sunday and another God on Monday—the Father of Jesus Christ when they sing and pray //and mammon when they work and play. This is a terrible kind of schizophrenia. You cannot be a slave to both at once. Serving God can never be a part-time or spare-time job. A smart person—good or bad—sees this!—J. Estill Jones
*Hymn of Response # 313
The Solid Rock
*Sending forth
*Postlude
2. Sermon Central - Great Expectations: God’s Expectations! – Bob Joyce
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[1]Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide. Includes index. (1st Augsburg books ed.) (488). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.