Each week of this month we have been challenged through God’s word and by His Holy Spirit to look at ourselves in an honestly critical way. We have been performing various Priority Checks. Each week we have examined priorities in our life from a different vantage point. However, each week we have been challenged to honestly consider our true priorities in life. Others can set standards of performance for you. Others can give you a list of priorities. But it is only YOU who determines what is your own priority in life. We have been studying the priorities of life that are of great importance according to Christ Jesus Himself – but even Jesus gives us the choice to make them our own priorities or not. These messages from Luke 14-16 reveal God’s will regarding a variety of priorities – but if all we have attained is a knowledge of God’s will, we have missed the point of the Priority Check. Obviously we need to have knowledge of His will, but what we do with that knowledge is of great importance.
James 1:22-24
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
NASU
As we have taken priority checks, and as we do so today, we clearly see that Jesus expects far different priorities from His followers than from those guided by the world. Paul understood this need for a higher priority of values and actions as he wrote these inspired words to the Romans . . .
Romans 12:2
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
NASU
Romans 12:2
2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
© 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Followers of Christ live with different priorities than those who are not followers of Christ. If your priorities are no different than those in the world – something is wrong.
As we come to Luke 16 this morning we will consider another Priority Check as we check our priority of stewardship.
Luke 16:1-13
1 Now He was also saying to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions.
2 "And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'
3 "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg.
4 'I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.'
5 "And he summoned each one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
6 "And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'
7 "Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'
8 "And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.
9 "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
10 "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
11 "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?
12 "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?
13 "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
NASU
In this Parable of the Unrighteous Steward Jesus teaches the importance of having the right attitude toward wealth and to use possessions in a proper, not an improper way. But it seems as we read through the parable that the one being praised is getting praise for his unethical actions. Jesus is NOT teaching His followers to be unethical! Jesus is making a comparison of the ways of those led by the standards of the world to those who would be led by the standards of God. He then emphasizes the need for His followers to be wise in good stewardship.
I. Good Stewards Are Opportunity Minded
I have read several interpretations of this parable. Some attempt to make the actions of the steward not bad or wrong. One explanation was that the steward was not being unethical when he marked down the amount owed to his master. In this explanation the money that the steward reduced the bill by was the portion of the bill that would have been his commission. Therefore he was giving away his own money, not the masters. Well, that might seem to help make the steward not so unrighteous. I have some problems with the interpretation – who gave the steward the right to make this reduction? In fact, it was not his function at all – especially since the master had already relieved him of such duties. He was to get his records together for the master. I suppose one could say that the steward was getting all the collections up to date, but it seems like a bit of a stretch. Jesus introduced the steward as one who was squandering the master’s possessions. If the report were not true, it would seem to me that Jesus would have said he was unjustly accused of such squandering of the master’s possessions.
The point is not that the steward was a good steward. The point is that the steward, even though not ethical, did look for good opportunities. We, as followers of Christ, should be opportunity-minded. Not by incorporating unethical or illegal means – because we are not of the world (like the unrighteous steward). But there are many opportunities that are ours that are not evil or unethical. The same is true for us together as the Lord’s church. As we look about us we see in the world many looking for opportunities to sell their goods, or to win people to their point of view. Now we know we are not to be unrighteous with the TRUTH. We are to present the truth of the Gospel, the truth of the word of God. But does that mean we must use the same methods that have long ago lost effectiveness? There are some who think a church should not use the internet, or have a website because those are worldly tools. Isn’t it better to see the opportunities available today in technology and use them to God’s glory?
You remember the old story about the two salesmen who were sent to a far-away island to sell shoes. When they arrived they found out that no one on this tropical island wore shoes. One salesman looked at the situation and felt defeated. He contacted those who sent him and said, “It’s hopeless to try to sell shoes on this island because no one wears shoes.” The other salesman contacted those who sent him and said, “Send as many shoes as possible, no one hear has shoes.”
One was opportunity-minded! There are many opportunities for you to do good and make good influences for the Lord with your use of possessions. It is not so much what you have as it is what you do with what you have!
II. Good Stewards Have Good Priorities
Which has a higher priority – heaven or earth? Which has a higher priority – God or money? Seems pretty easy to answer those questions – in fact we might say the answers are obvious. The unrighteous steward was put in a very difficult situation in his life. He had lost his job. He did not want to beg for a living, nor did he feel he was strong enough for physical labor. So he devised a way to get others to welcome him into their homes. He had a PRIORITY – provide for his well-being. That is an important priority, no question about it. In a worldly sense it is one of, if not the highest priority in life. His shrewd decision even won the praise of the worldly master – who was measuring the steward’s actions by worldly standards.
Those who are followers of Christ do have worldly needs. Just like everyone else – food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and other things. But are these the most important priority in life? That is exactly what Jesus wants us to consider . . .
Luke 16:13
13 "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
NASU
Followers of Christ have God as the highest priority. On Wednesday I told those at the study that Donna had sent me a story about a little boy and an ice cream cone. I told them the story touched me, but did not tell them the story. Here is the story . . .
In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less. A 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked. "Fifty cents," replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it. "Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired. By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient. "Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied. The little boy again counted his coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left.
When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he wanted to have enough money left to leave her a tip.
That little boy had a higher priority than his own enjoyment that would come from the ice cream sundae. He thought of someone else. As we use our earthly possessions are we thinking of others. As we live our lives are we serving God or are we serving money?
[Prayer]
