The Parable Of The Shrewd Manager: Are You Using Your Time, Talents, And Treasure Toward God's Kingdom? Series

"Charles Francis Adams, 19th century political figure and diplomat, kept a diary. One day he entered: "Went fishing with my son today--a day wasted." His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: "Went fishing with my father--the most wonderful day of my life!" The father thought he was wasting his time while fishing with his son, but his son saw it as an investment of time. The only way to tell the difference between wasting and investing is to know one's ultimate purpose in life and to judge accordingly." -Silas Shotwell, Homemade, September, 1987.

How do you invest your time? How do you invest your money? What is of value to you? What do you consider pointless? What is your goal? What is the mission statement of your life?

In our illustration today Charles Francis Adams, son to John Quincy Adams, and grandson to John Adams spends a day with his son fishing. And he regarded it as a waste.

But his son Brook Adams considered it the greatest day of his life.

Charles was a famous diplomat, a historian, he served in the military, he wrote important works. Yet for his son, the most important day of his life was when dad went fishing with him.

Sometimes we can get so focused on big concepts, big ideas, big missions, that we may miss the details. We may miss the moments that individual people will never forget, because we spent time with them.

Or we can so focused on details, on fun trips, on quality time, on cards, and gifts, and fun things, that we lose focus on kingdom matters, big things, the gospel, discipleship, salvation and spiritual growth.

Growing up I was surrounded by people living out modernism, living the American good life. Working long hours, working on the car, attending public school, watching television, attending concerts, going on family trips, the latest toys, reading the newspaper, buying a nice house, marriage and children, picnics and cookouts, sports games, and videogames, family outings, and music recitals, and Disneyworld and doctors appointments, vitamins and proper exercise, politics and finance, business building, winning friends and influencing people, fine cooking, lavish meals, shopping trips, wine tasting, touring old buildings, visiting museums, and in all that, there was little room for God. But we even went to Catholic mass on Sundays, almost always, and we even attended Wednesday CCD classes. But during the week we didn’t practically make it part of our lives. We weren’t at work for the things of God, our money, our time, and our talents went to worldly pursuits. And in so doing, we were destroying ourselves with smiles on our faces.

Keep this in mind today: “Am I using my wealth, time & talents toward Kingdom pursuits?” Or are you living the American good life?

Which brings us to our parable today, the Parable of the Unjust Steward, or also commonly referred to as the Parable of the Shrewd Manager.

This parable is located in Luke chapter 16, and just prior to this parable in Luke 15, Jesus told the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. Particularly, the context in the prodigal son is that the son has taken his father’s wealth and squandered it on wild living, but when the son returns the Father welcomes him with open arms.

Then right after the unjust steward parable in Luke 16 we see the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. So we see Jesus outlining several different themes in regard to the kingdom of God that we’ll compare later. First, let’s look at our parable today, from Luke 16:1-13 says, “Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’”

3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

The manager has been dishonest and he’s in trouble. The master is done with him, he’s out of here. So he’s going to hatch a plan to improve his future prospects. He’s already going to be fired. So he’s got a plan. It continues…

5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

6 “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’