Luke 16:1-13 - Parable of the Crooked Manager: (The Message
1-2Jesus said to his disciples, "There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses.
So he called him in and said, 'What's this I hear about you? You're fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.'
3-4"The manager said to himself, 'What am I going to do? I've lost my job as manager. I'm not strong enough for a labouring job, and I'm too proud to beg. . . . Ah, I've got a plan. Here's what I'll do . . . then when I'm turned out into the street, people will take me into their houses.'
5" So he called in the people who were in debt to his master. He said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
6"He replied, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.'
"The manager said, 'Here, take your bill, sit down here—quick now— write fifty.
'
7"To the next he said, 'And you, what do you owe?'
"He answered, 'A hundred sacks of wheat.'
"He said, 'Take your bill, write in eighty.'
8-9"Now here's a surprise:
The master praised the crooked manager! And why?
Because he knew how to look after himself.
Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens.
They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits.
Jesus went on to say:
I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior."
10-13Jesus went on to make these comments:
If you're honest in small things,
you'll be honest in big things;
If you're a crook in small things,
you'll be a crook in big things.
If you're not honest in small jobs,
who will put you in charge of the store?
No worker can serve two bosses:
He'll either hate the first and love the second
Or adore the first and despise the second.
You can't serve both God and the Bank.
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Sermon
LUKE 16:1-13 WSMM and TAS 21-09-2013
GOD IS LOOKING FOR SINGLE MINDED PEOPLE
This is one of the most difficult parables to understand - because at first blush it looks as if Jesus is condoning sharp practices.
On careful reflection however, I don’t think he is.
The story is a bit of an enigma
There are some possible explanations for the Crooked Manager’s actions that Jesus commends.
EXPLANATION 1
1. Overlending and reducing to a reasonable debt
A bit like our present banking crisis.
Had the crooked manager been overlending to people and charging too much interest so that the customers had no chance of paying it back?
If so, then what he did made good business sense.
He simply made credible reductions in the bills so that the creditors were more likely to be able to pay off their bills.
EXPLANATION 2
2. He took off the Interest
Another explanation was that it may well be that the crooked manager took off the interest that he had been charging.
You see “charging of interest” - USUARY as it is often known - was something expressly forbidden for a Jew to do - to another Jew under Old Testament Law.
So to get round it if one borrowed 400 gallons of olive oil one would sign a repayment note for 800 gallons.
So no interest was charged because 800 gallons was "borrowed"!!
EXPLANATION 3
3. He took off his cut in the business
Another theory was that the crooked manager who would have been entitled to a cut in the business.
So he simply wrote off his own cut
But however you look at it – the Crooked Manager was just that – a scoundrel.
His “generosity” to the creditors would never have happened if he hadn’t been caught cooking the books
He was lining his own pockets.
He was not faithful to his master
So what Jesus is admiring is the shrewdness of crooked manager.
He is not commenting on the morality of the man.
The message of this parable is found in Luke 16:13
No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Or put another way in Mt 6: 19-21
19-20"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. (The Message)
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NIV)
The message is simply this
God is looking for single-minded people
CHALLENGE 1
The first challenge if we are to be single minded in God’s cause requires us to spend time with God in prayer.
We cannot be Christians unless we have a close relationship with God.
That’s what prayer is all about – spending time with God.
How could I expect to keep my marriage going if I did not spend time with my wife?
Yet many Christians expect that we can keep our spiritual lives with God going with one Sunday service a week.
CHALLENGE 2.
If we are to be single minded for God, then we need to do what is closest to God’s heart
Jesus gave the Church only one commission when he said Mt. 28:18 to 20 when he said:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
The challenge is – am I willing to put myself out to tell others about God?
CHALLENGE 3.
If we are single minded for God do I use the same wisdom in when I am in church as I do in business or in secular matters?
Story: Andrew Carnegie, the famous steel magnate of the 19th Century had a sister who complained that her sons were always asking for money but never replied to her letters.
So Carnegie bet her £100 that he could get them to reply within a week.
So he sat down and wrote to each of his nephews asking how they were. He ended both letters by saying that he was enclosing £50 for each of them.
He received a letter back from each within the week giving Carnegie their news and ending with a “PS. Uncle Andrew, you forgot to enclose the £50.”
Carnegie was successful because he used his brain - and as Christians we need to do the same.
In some of the churches I have been in – I have seen some of the brightest brains in business.
Top managers and leaders in industry.
Yet when they came into church, they left that sharp acumen behind.
It is as if they parked their brains with their cars in the church car park.
And the Church loses its cutting edge.
If we had the same expertise that we apply to problems in business applied in the Church, we would have changed long ago
Note please I said expertise and not crookedness
We are all called to have INTEGRITY in the way be conduct our affairs
Psalm 15:4 talks about a godly man being one “who keeps his word whatever the cost,” (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Earlier this year I read a book by Bill Hybels called “Courageous Leadership”.
Bill Hybels runs the very successful Willow Creek Community Church which was founded on 12th October 1975.
Since then, the Willow Creek Association was formed in the 1990’s, which has been used by God to reach hundreds and thousands for Christ.
Bill Hybel’s recipe for good leadership is to find people with the following characteristics
• character,
• competence, and
• chemistry
In that order.
If you don’t have a good character, it doesn’t matter how competent you are – you won’t make it as a good Christian leader.
And as I mulled that over, I thought: “Come to think of it, if the character is wanting, you won’t make a good Christian.” – full stop.
Just as we would react in business to market loser, so we in the Church have to be able to react if we find we have hit a market loser
Even if it is our main product – the Sunday service.
Let me give you an example
Story: I read about one American pastor in a big suburban situation was concerned that only 20-30 people were coming to church.
So he asked people why they weren’t coming and the reply that Sunday was a bad time, since it was the only time they could get to be with the family.
So he switched the main service to Wednesday night and got 600 coming to his services.
We need to be able to think out of the box
4. Conclusion.
So in conclusion, although the parable of the Crooked Manager seems enigmatic, I think it challenges us to be single minded for God
And if we are going to be single minded for God – it presents bus with three CHALLENGES
1. Do I want to spend time with God regularly in prayer
2. Do I want what is closest to God’s heart
3. Do I use my brains in God’s service.
If we are going to be real servants of God – we need – IN CONTRAST to the Crooked Manager to act with absolute INTEGRITY.
Even if it costs us to do so.
