Parable: The Shrewd Steward

Read Luke 16:1-13

Long ago and a couple states away, I asked my program director who was also my preaching professor and parables teacher, how he preached this parable.  I doubt there have been many unscratched heads and super clear minds when it comes to examining this parable.

I will use a highly theological term to set the stage for this parable.  It’s a doozy. 

My professor’s answer was, after decades upon decades upon decades of preaching, “I never preached it.”

Yet we have embarked upon a course of considering the parables of Jesus this year, trying not to skip any because they are difficult.  I might have omitted some that were so similar to others and I might have preached more than one Sunday on some that didn’t fit into one sermon; but we have yet to skip one just because it was hard to understand.

You see, when it comes to the parables, there are just a whole bunch of red letter words in my Bible and I just can’t see skipping over them.  So here we go.

There was a certain manager—a steward—and his boss didn’t think that he was doing a very good job.  A steward is more than a supervisor.  He is more than an accountant.  He is more than a bean counter.  He is trusted with his boss’s money and resources and people.

He makes sales and loans and enters into business on behalf of his boss.  This is a position of trust, but in this story his boss thinks that perhaps that trust has been misplaced.  The boss wants an accounting of everything in this man’s trust.

Why would the boss do this?  He is firing his most trusted manager.  The manager has many problems.

First, he has lost the trust of his boss—his master in those days.  Accusations have been made and evidently the boss thinks there is some substance to them.

Think back to Luke’s 12^th chapter.  Who is the wise and faithful manager?  He is the one who is always doing the right things, best things, most profitable things for his master.  He doesn’t have to worry about anything.  He is always ready for inspection.

He knows where every cent is invested.  He knows what is most profitable and least profitable and is always making good decisions with his master’s money and resources.  If he makes a bad deal, he learns his lessons and makes up for that loss in profit elsewhere.

He is exactly the person whom any boss, any master, any employer would want in charge of his resources.  Who would not want a wise and faithful manager?

But that doesn’t seem to describe the manager in this parable.  He knows that he is completely out of luck if he gets the boot and it looks like his time is up.

If his master sees that he has totally botched everything, he could likely go to prison being held for debts that were outstanding.  He might not just get fired; he might do some time.

But even if he just got fired, there were no unemployment benefits and he had no hard job skills.  He couldn’t handle the working end of a shovel and he couldn’t bring himself to beg.

The only job that he could do was that of a steward or manager and apparently, he didn’t do that job very well.

What is he to do.  He must surely give an account soon and if it doesn’t come out favorably, he will have to start worrying about who his cell mate is going to be while he works off his debt which he has no skills to work off—ouch!

What can he do?

He is going do some finagling.  He is going to make some deals.

Hey buddy, you owe 900 bucks but today only, I will take 500 dollars in cash.  Let’s do this.  Here’s the paperwork.

Somewhere else, he is looking at a long-term loan that can’t be repaid in an instant, so the manager, says, “Hey, it’s been a while since we talked.  I know that these payments can be a bear sometimes.  I am going to reduce your interest rate by half.  That’s the way I am.”

Somewhere else he is just writing off 20% of someone’s bill and making the paperwork look good.  So you owe for a hundred barrels of crude oil; let’s just put down that you bought 80 and when the price was at its lowest.  Is that a deal or what?

The theological term for his is, cooking the books. 

Think to the Parable of the Talents.  Each servant comes to make an accounting with his master.  All three servants know that they must account for what they have been given—even the third servant knows this.  The master is pleased with the first two and commends them for being good and faithful. 

Well done good and faithful servant!

In Luke’s parable, the words well done, good, and faithful are not in the master’s description of his steward. 

The master’s term is shrewd.  Now that’s an interesting word.  The range of definitions goes from astute to discerning with cleverness at every turn.  A shrewd person is wise and discerning but uses these intellectual gifts and social tools to his or her own advantage.

You don’t have to read more than 2 chapters of the Bible to get to what it means to be shrewd.  The third chapter begins:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  (NIV)

The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”  (MSG)

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”  (NLT)

You know the rest of the dialogue and the shrewdness displayed by the serpent.  So as you think about being described as shrewd by your boss; think snake in the grass—serpent in the garden.

Now, if I think of a Marine combat commander, I like the term shrewd attached to it.  You want a commander who can turn the tables and put the enemy at a disadvantage.  The shrewd commander puts the enemy’s blood at risk while protecting that of his Marine’s.

Maybe, I like the term shrewd attached to our trade negotiators.  They do need to have some shrewdness about them so the rest of the world doesn’t take advantage of us.

Over 20 years ago, I went to the Karrass  Effective Negotiating training.  The training involved every technique known to man, most of them very manipulative.  We learned them, practiced them, became equipped to recognize when someone was using them against us, and concluded our training with strong counsel not to use these techniques ourselves.  We should always seek the win-win strategy, but we should be shrewd enough to know when our negotiating partner was just in it for themselves.

In some contexts, I like the word shrewd attached.  But in this parable, it opens a door and goes through a threshold that we do not see crossed much in the biblical accounts that we know.

This manager was described by his master as shrewd, not as good or faithful or one really worthy of heartfelt commendation.  He was shrewd.

What did the manager do to earn this delineation?

He was about to be given the boot from his master’s favor, so he curried favor with those who had been in his master’s debt.  He made friends with those who resided in the world where he would soon live.

He couldn’t make it on his own.  He had no trade or technical skill and at least at this point didn’t think he could handle life as a beggar.  So, he tried to construct his own golden parachute.  He tried to use what his master had entrusted to him to make for a soft landing when he was given the boot.

His master said, “You are just pretty shrewd.  You are crafty.  You are clever.”

Knowing that you were not going to live in my kingdom much longer, you made a place for yourself in the world.  You made a place for yourself among those who would never come to my inner circle.  You made a place for yourself among people who do not live my way.

It has been said many times in many variations that the only hell that Christians will know will come in this time that we live in this age; and the only heaven that the rebellious person will know will come in this time that we live in this age.

What does that mean?  If you choose to reject God and live your own way and not his, then you had better make friends with the world and everything in it, for there is no heavenly reward for you.

The only joy and pleasure and rewards that you will ever know will come in this life.  You had better make friends with the god of this age, whether its name be money or fame or self-gratification.

You cannot worship both God and money.

You cannot seek both God’s kingdom and your own carnal desires.

You cannot live in God’s righteousness and wallow in sin and darkness.

You can’t sit on the fence.  So, if you are not all in with God, then you might as well go all in with the world.  Ouch!

Remember, this comes on the heels of three parable telling us how much God celebrates when the lost come home.  This comes after a powerful parable titled the Lost Son that is really about our Good, Good Father.

Ouch and double ouch!

We need to understand that we can’t sit on the fence.  We don’t do lukewarm.  We don’t hedge our bets when it comes to God.

We trust him, obey him, and love him by loving others and there is no half measure that is acceptable. Once we have eyes to see the incredible love that God has for us, we are wicked and foolish when we do anything other than follow the way he has set for us.

There is an interesting twist at the end of this parable that I am very surprised Hollywood has not capitalized upon.  The sons of this world have greater shrewdness than those who live in the light.

So, are we who follow Jesus to be shrewd?  Are we to be clever?

I think the appropriate word for us is creative.  We who live in the light, who are made in our Father’s image—and he is a creative God, and who are packed full of gifts and talents, are to be creative and industrious, and fruitful.   We are to be creative with eyes to see the shrewdness of the world.

When we use our insight and wisdom and discernment for God’s glory, it is creativity.  When we use the same faculties to feather our own nest, it is shrewdness.  Who is our friend?  Is it God or is it the world?

Jesus is saying—I am taking a lot of license here—that the people who are following me need to get their game on.

I have decided to follow Jesus.  Game on!

I am going to take everything that God packed into me and unpack it.  I am going to be wise and discerning and creative and industrious and more; and it’s all for God’s glory.

I will not hedge my bet.  I will use the gifts and talents that others hedge their bets with to bring glory to God.  I am all in and I am not working on a golden parachute in case this God thing, salvation thing, Jesus thing doesn’t work out.

I am all in.

Jesus is telling us that:

·       You can’t love two masters.

·       You can’t serve two masters.

·       You can’t bank on heaven and earth at the same time.

What’s it really worth to you if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?

The parable tells us that if we are not going all in with God, then we might want to make some friends with the world—with the evil, carnal, wicked world.

Jesus liked to put things into extremes.  Why?  Was he just prone to exaggerate?

How about our choice is between two extremes—life and death.  You can’t straddle the fence between those two.

For those who have received this wonderful gift of salvation, we are called to remember that the one who is given much has much required of him. 

We are to be the good and faithful managers and servants and friends of our Lord.

Shrewdness and cleverness come in handy in combat.  Creativity crowns the heart of the redeemed man or woman.  We as God’s good and faithful servants need to be more creative.

To explain this, I will ask my friend Thomas Didjano to illustrate.  I’m not sure if Thomas is Native American or half Hawaiian and half Slavic or what ethnicity, but he is here to help this morning.

Thomas, did you know that some people respond better to messages in music?

Thomas, did you know that some people respond better to messages in drama.

Thomas, did you know that the words follow me are more powerful than you had better get your act together.

Thomas, did you know that sometimes a 1-minute video reaches people more than a 21-minute sermon.

Thomas did you know that Facebook can send good news to the far reaches of the globe.

Thomas did you know that Wednesday nights might be the only worship service that some kids have ever known.

Thomas, did you know that the children are always watching and listening.

Thomas did you know that most innovation begins with a problem.

Thomas did you know that we are but a mist, living this life for such a short, short time.

Thomas did you know that eye has not seen and ear has not heard what the Lord God has in store for those who love him.

Thomas did you know that there is God’s way and everything else; there is no middle ground.

Thomas did you know that you are a friend of God and not of the world.

Thomas did you know that love fulfills the law.

Thomas did you know that when you seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness first, he gives you the very things that the godless world has made into their gods.

Thomas, did you know that God has packed more inside of you than you can unpack in your lifetime.

Thomas, did you know that when you expend every ounce of energy working for the Lord, he fills you up again.

Thomas, did you know that God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Thomas, did you know that you are to be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid.  Do not be discouraged.  The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Thomas, did you know that in Christ there is no such thing as an ordinary life.

Thomas, did you know that when we set our eyes upon Jesus and say, “Game on!” God’s smile breaks through the heavens and touches our hearts.

But, but, but… This whole Game on thing doesn’t seem to fit with walk humbly with your God.

Thomas, did you know that our humility is just right when everything we have is given to God’s glory and not our own.

Thomas did you know that you already have the best job in the world, that of a wise and faithful manager and steward and servant and friend of God.

Thomas did you know that you do not need to make friends with the world.  The world is our mission field not our home.

People of the world can be shrewd.  We are people of the light.  We are good and faithful, wise and faithful, creative and discerning managers, stewards, servants, and friends of our God.

We know the shrewdness of the world and will not be manipulated by it, but we take the same gifts and talents that the world uses for shrewdness and we use them creatively for love and mercy and kindness and delivering good news to the lost.

When it comes to Christ, we are all in.  We hold back nothing.  We don’t hedge our bets.  We are wise and faithful managers and stand ready to give an account of how we have lived out our salvation every day.

We are all in with Christ alone.  Game on!

Amen.