Title: Shrewd Dealings
Text: Luke 16:1-9
FCF: We ought to use the talents, gifts, and love that our Lord gave us.
SO: Eventually, I want to get this church up and active – by reminding the church that it needs to use what the Lord has provided, I hope to remove barriers to service.
Intro:
At some point in your life, you’ve probably heard this story. In 1626, the Dutch governor, Peter Minuit gave the Canarsie Indians $24 worth of beads and trinkets in exchange for island of Manhattan. Some 380 years later, the real estate value of that little island is now more than $47 billion dollars. Sounds like the Dutch got a good deal, no? It’s often been called the greatest real estate deal of all times. But, there’s a dirty little financial secret that you should know. If you had taken that same $24 and invested it at 6% interest, that same $24 would, as of 2005, be worth $170 [billion], $396 [million ], 280 [thousand], 415 dollars, and two cents.
If you don’t believe in the power of investing, you should know that when Benjamin Franklin died in 1791, he left the city of Philadelphia $1000, but he stipulated that the money couldn’t be touched for 300 years. In 1991, that gift was worth over $1.5 million.
And, oh, don’t feel so bad for the Canarsie Indians – it turned out that even though they sold the island of Manhattan – they actually didn’t own it. They were from Brooklyn.
In this morning’s scripture we got a little lesson in investing from Jesus, and I have to tell you, I wouldn’t have guessed that would have been a story Jesus would have told.
For the last two weeks, we’ve actually been talking about inheritances, and specifically, we’ve been looking at the very familiar parable of the prodigal son. But, interestingly enough, the early Church fathers often considered this parable – one that is usually called. “the parable of the unjust steward,” or the “parable of the dishonest manager” to be the last section of that parable. I think there’s merit to that idea.
You see, parable of the prodigal son, we learned that we have all been given a great inheritance – chiefly the love of our father. In the first part of the parable, we learned that wasting it is bad, but our father’s love is inexhaustible. We need only return to him, and he will love us again. By contrast, his brother, you’ll remember, tried his hardest to hold onto every little thing he had. But, the truth is that love which is hoarded is in fact, wasted. So then, what are we to do with this prodigious inheritance we’ve been given? I’d suggest the answer is most plainly given here. If we have been given a great inheritance by our father, we should invest it as best we can.
This parable gives us some guidelines about investing, and this morning I’d like to look at three of them:
I. Use What you have
II. Use it NOW
III. Use it wisely
Use What You Have
- Notice: At first, the steward focuses on what he doesn’t have / what he cannot do. (He can’t dig, won’t beg). This gets him nowhere.
- Then, he realizes what he still has. He had to be a bit “creative,” in the same sense we talk about Enron and “creative accounting” but he figured out that he had relationships with people.
o All of who choose to live in this world have relationships
o We all have time and a commitment to our Lord
o We all have a God who enables us to do (think David & Goliath, think Gideon, think feeding of the 4000 from just 7 loaves)
- General principal throughout Scripture (the “Light” Principal: to whom much has been given, much will be expected)– God never judges us for what we don’t have, only what we do with what we have been given:
o Parable of the Talents
o Story of the Widow’s Mite
o Even in the parable of the foolish virgins – the Bridegroom isn’t angry with the virgins who didn’t have oil for their lamps b/c they couldn’t afford it – it’s because they were foolish in using it all up.
- Here at Long Branch,
o we don’t have a children’s ministry. I’d like to be a big church and have one, but how many children do we really have? Rachel & Jesse and are very mature, and I think they’re able to get a lot from just being in here. How many kids are there?
o We don’t have the big church multiple ministry options. I wish I had a minister in charge of evangelism!
But we have members who regularly visit those in the nursing homes.
A large portion of this church is active in Seven Loaves – feeding the hungry exactly in accordance with Christ’s command, that as you do unto the least of my brethren, you’ve done it unto me.
And we have a closeness that you can’t have in a mega-church.
o In other words, we at Long Branch are perfectly poised to provide the kind of connection that the world is shouting for! (Bowling Alone)
- In God’s Kingdom, there is no such thing as “too small.” There is only “too timid” or “too afraid.” Our God is big enough to make up for anything we lack. (Note: Save the William Broaddus )
Use it Now
- It is that timidity that we have to watch out for. Notice that the steward had to act, and act now! He looked at the problems going on around him.
- If he had waited to act, it would have been too late. In the Parable of the Talents (Luke 19:24), the person with one talent who just sat on lost it.
- V26 goes on ‘I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away !’
Use it wisely
- In our RR, Jesus reminded us that treasures on earth decay – moths & rust consume, thieves break in and steal. So it behooves us to use what God has given us wisely.
- Knowing that he was going to lose what he had, our unjust steward realized that he needed to invest in people. I think that’s the key, and its an injunction against us. (Here’s where you can riff on the dullness of the ‘Children of Light’ vs. the children of this generation!)
ILL: I read about a Baptist minister, back in the 1830’s. His church only had about 60 members, half of whom were slaves, and there was no word on how many of those members actually attended. But he had a vision, and a burning knowledge that God demands we not squander or hoard the bountiful gifts he’s given us.
Now, one thing to keep in mind about Baptists in the 1830s- for them, the principle of congregational autonomy was paramount, even to the exclusion of coming together to do the work of the Lord. Institutions like missionary societies, Baptist Children’s homes, and the like divided them even more than issues like slavery. Even the idea of a Sunday school was considered heretical. This fatalistic belief in God’s will just happening, in my mind, was a plan straight from the devil. If he couldn’t stop Christ’s victory, at least he could sideline his followers.
But this one minister was not only convinced that we did need to have functions outside of worship – he was willing to sacrifice everything he had to ensure that the church would build up everyone. It came to a head in 1833. This minister actually had a circuit of four churches in two associations, and at the first association, his enemies actually had the audacity to refuse to allow him, a duly appointed messenger to the association, to be accepted. He was kicked out. Worse yet, he found out they were going to do the same thing at the next associational meeting for his other churches.
This was all because this minister actually believed that Christians shouldn’t be limited to just a sermon and a few songs on Sundays. He wanted missions’ agencies to proclaim the gospel, benevolence funds to feed the hungry, and Sunday schools to instruct a new generation, equipping them to proclaim the gospel and giving what they needed to live victorious lives in Christ. But some said, ‘Oh, if God wants them saved, he’ll do it.’
I’ll tell you what happened at the next associational meeting. His church – actually his favorite and primary church – sent him to the next associational meeting with a letter. If the other delegates wouldn’t seat him, he was authorized to leave that association, disassociate the church, and create his own. That’s how the Salem-Union Association was started, and how the Potomac Baptist Association was revitalized. That pastor was William Broaddus. If you go down to Richmond, you’ll even find a very large church named after him. That man went on, not only to found an association, but encourage five of his members – the Herndon boys, to set up churches all over northern Virginia. Oh, and the church that stood with him? Long Branch Baptist Church, in Halfway, Virginia.
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, May 1st, 2005
Enter to Worship
Prelude …………………………………………………………..……… David Witt
Invocation …………………………………………………………..……… Michael Hollinger
Opening Hymn* …………………………………………………………..……… #481
“Just a Closer Walk with Thee”
Welcome and Announcements
Morning Prayer ………………..……… Mr. Hollinger
Responsive Reading* [See Right]
Offertory Hymn* …………………………………………………………..……… #198
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus”
Offertory …………………………………………………………..……… Mr. Witt
Doxology
Scripture Luke 16:1-9
Sermon Mr. Hollinger
“A Prodigious Inheritance, Pt. III:
Shrewd Dealings”
Concluding Hymn* #373
“Take My Life and Let it Be”
Benediction*
Congregational Response
Postlude* …………………………………………………………..……… Mr. Witt
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE READING
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain,
but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust consume
and where thieves break in and steal;
but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
-(1 Tim 6:17-19; Matt 6:19-21)
