August 7, 2025 • 27 mins
Jesus challenges disciples about wealth management through the parable of the shrewd manager, highlighting the spiritual impossibility of serving both God and money while emphasizing that true stewardship demands integrity in all areas of life.
• Exploring the meaning of "shrewd" in Luke 16:1-13
• Contrasting worldly business practices with kingdom ethics
• Examining how compartmentalizing our ethics dishonors God
• Protecting yourself from worldly influences through biblical knowledge
The bottom line teaching of this parable is that God does not honor the mishandling of what He gives us to steward.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:20):
Amen, reminder for us to recall in today's divisive
and dark culture, fromfoundational truths and
scripture to the hot topics oftoday's culture.
Allow this podcast to inspireand motivate you on your faith
journey.
All right, well, good morning,pastor, steve.
Good morning, glad that you'rehere again today, glad to be
here, excited to be with you.
Just a quick note for those whoare watching and listening.
(00:42):
We have been doing this now fora while and we appreciate all
of those who have commented andwho continue to listen and watch
each week.
We appreciate you guys and hopethat it's a blessing to you.
So we're going to be in Luke,chapter 16, today for episode
23,.
Luke 16, 1 through 13.
I'm going to go ahead and readand then we'll dive right in Now
(01:25):
.
He was also saying to thedisciples there was a rich man
who had a manager, and We'lldive right in do, since my
master is taking the managementaway from me.
I'm not strong enough to dig,I'm ashamed to beg.
I know what I shall do so thatwhen I'm removed from the
management, people will welcomeme into their homes.
And he summoned each one of hismaster's debtors and he began
saying to the first how much doyou owe my master?
And he said a hundred measures.
Measures of oil.
And he said to him take yourbill and sit down quickly and
write 50.
(01:45):
Then he said to another howmuch do you owe?
And he said a hundred measuresof wheat.
He said to him take your billand write 80.
And his master praised theunrighteous manager because he
had acted shrewdly.
For the sons of this age aremore shrewd in relation to their
own kind than the sons of light.
And I say to you make friendsfor yourselves by means of the
wealth of unrighteousness, sothat when it fails, they will
(02:08):
receive you into the eternaldwellings.
He who is faithful in a verylittle thing is faithful also in
much, and he who is unrighteousin a very little thing is
unrighteous also in much.
Therefore, if you have not beenfaithful in the use of
unrighteous wealth, who willentrust the true riches to you?
And if you have not beenfaithful in the use of that
(02:28):
which is another's, who willgive you that which is your own?
No servant can serve twomasters, for either he will hate
the one and love the other, orelse he will be devoted to one
and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and wealth.
All right, pastor.
So there's a lot of differingviews out there about this
passage, but I'm confident thattoday you can help us shed some
(02:51):
light on that Scripture.
The first thing I'd like to sayis what does shrewd mean in
this text?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, in my understanding, to put it in our
language, it's streetwise, smartin business.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And so that can mean either shrewd in a biblical way
or shrewd in an unbiblical way.
Would you say that is correct?
I think an unbiblical way.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
What's being said about this man is if you think
about it, he's a wheeler dealer.
He's about to lose his job.
He knows he's losing his job,so he begins to make sweetheart
deals with the vendors that dobusiness with his master.
And what he's doing in myhumble opinion, I've seen it a
(03:37):
thousand times in the real worldhe's making friends with his
master's money so that he cansurvive.
After the fact, one of theseold boys is going to give me a
job, somebody's going to help medown the road, because I'm
giving them sweetheart deals now.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Right, yeah, so this would be the reason you
typically don't let someone knowthat you're letting them go
before you let them go.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That would be one of the many reasons.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So in this passage it almostseems like this shrewd manager
is being praised, but obviouslyhe's not.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
He is and he's not.
He's being praised for hisability to think on his feet and
to make shrewd businessdecisions, but if you look at
the end of those verses, he'snot being praised for what he's
done.
I mean, we see people every daythat are shrewd business people
(04:40):
.
That doesn't mean they'renecessarily moral people or
godly people.
They're just good businesspeople.
One of the statements I'veheard throughout my lifetime
that makes me cringe is when youhear a Christian say well, I
had to do it, it's just businessright.
So I think we do a lot ofquestionable things in the name
(05:06):
of business sometimes, and Ithink that's a very dangerous
place.
When you're a believer, a childof God, your code of ethics,
your morality, can't change whenyou clock in at work, and so
this guy had an integrityproblem.
He's already stealing from hismaster, and so when he's caught
(05:31):
he steals even more from hismaster Right, trying to fix
himself up as he's going out thedoor.
And so he's praised for beingshrewd.
He's thinking on his feet,we're going to fix this
situation, but he's not beingpraised.
Notice what's not in thepassage.
He's not being rewarded.
(05:53):
He's not being praised forbeing moral or godly or honoring
to his master in any way, andso it's important to also note
what's not said in that passage,and so it's important to also
note what's not said in thatpassage.
I think the overall meaning ofthe passage is that God will not
honor the mismanaging of hismoney.
(06:13):
As believers, we're allentrusted, whether it's our
personal income, our businessincome, whatever it is.
We're all entrusted.
It's not ours and this is thebiggest flaw a lot of believers
have.
This is my money, I made thismoney, I own this money.
(06:34):
Uh, but I think because it endssaying what?
No man can serve two masters.
What's going to be God in yourlife?
So what made him make thedecisions he made?
Money was driving him.
He was in love with money.
He was not in love with themaster.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And I think it holds true for all of us.
There's not room in your soulto be in love with Jesus and be
in love with the world.
It's just not possible.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And this guy was in love with the world and there's
good business practices andthere's bad business practices,
and I think even in the churchworld there's a temptation to
bring in the business practicesthat reap the most reward, and I
think we have to be careful.
Just like you said, we're asteward of what God has given us
, and so, as the church I meanJesus is.
(07:31):
Obviously, it seems here he'salmost trying to reach Judas
when he's saying this because ofthe temptations in Judas's life
.
But there's also thosetemptations in our lives as well
, the audience for this parableis the disciples.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
He's been talking to the Pharisees Right, and then he
turns to the disciples.
And so who is he entrusting thegospel with?
The disciples?
Right, they've got to be goodmanagers, good stewards of what
he's leaving them in charge of.
You know, and look, it's such afine line.
(08:05):
You want to have good businesspractices in the church also,
but you have to be very careful.
Just because it's a goodbusiness practice doesn't mean
that it's honoring to God.
I'll give you an example.
My generation loves Zig Ziglar.
(08:25):
I had high respect for ZigZiglar, but I also had some
checks and my spirit was ZigZiglar, because here's his
testimony I was selling pots andpans and I was starving to
death Because I'd present myproduct to a housewife.
I knew she wanted those pots andpans.
(08:47):
I could see it.
She'd even tell me I want thesepots and pans but I can't
afford them and I'd feel sorryfor her and I'd walk away.
She didn't get the pots andpans she really wanted and I
didn't make any money.
We both lost and I came torealize that all I was really
(09:08):
doing was giving her what shereally wanted.
Therefore, I was helping her.
Now I know people would arguewith me about this, and that's
okay, but that's manipulationokay.
And so, whatever businesspractices we use in our daily
lives as Christians or in thechurch as we serve the Lord, we
(09:33):
have to be careful we're notcalling it business and using or
manipulating people, becausethe one thing I'm pretty clear
about is Jesus was never happywhen people were used or
manipulated.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah, yeah, yes.
And that brings up what he sayshere in verse.
Let's see if I can find itquick.
Verse 10, he who is faithful ina very little thing is faithful
also in much.
And he who is unrighteous in avery little thing is unrighteous
also in much.
So the idea is, once you beginthose unrighteous in a very
little thing is unrighteous alsoin much.
So.
The idea is, you know, once youbegin those unrighteous
practices, it builds on oneanother and it becomes more and
(10:10):
more unrighteousness.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Exactly, and that's such a huge truth for every
facet of our lives.
I think that applies towhatever you're doing.
You know I remember startingout in the ministry, my first
church.
I started first Sunday withseven people.
I drove two and a half hoursone way.
(10:34):
I did that for four years, okay, and I tried to be faithful as
best I understood what thatmeant.
And each church I've servedalong the way I've tried to be
faithful and ironically believeit or not I've never put out a
(10:56):
resume, Never.
I've been asked for resumes,but I've never given a resume
unsolicited to anybody, becauseI believe if you're faithful,
then God puts you where he wantsyou, where he would have you
serve.
And this is one of the thingsthat concerns me about a lot of
(11:20):
young ministers coming out ofseminary these days.
They want to start here atCovenant Church, Okay, and I've
even gone over there in the pastand interviewed young ministers
to serve some of our missionchurches and I've had them say
things to me like I think Godhas more for me than that or God
(11:41):
would have me do somethingbigger than that.
Well, how do you know that youhadn't done anything small yet?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You know, if you're not willing to do the little
things that God affords you theopportunity to do, he may never
allow you to do anything else.
I can't speak for him.
That's all in his sovereignty.
And I just think sometimes wethink worldly, we think
(12:12):
promotion.
If I'm faithful here at thischurch running 125, god will
give me a church running 300.
But that may not be in God'splan for you.
You may be just what he wantsin that place.
So his reward for you beingfaithful may be something other
(12:33):
than a bigger church.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
You know, and so I think that's one of the greatest
truths in Scripture.
I think that's one of thegreatest truths in Scripture,
and there are so many that arenot willing to be faithful where
they are, but they're mad theyhadn't been blessed with more,
and so I would advise anybody ifyou're not where you think you
(12:58):
ought to be.
Take a step back, take stock inyourself and do some personal
evaluation and ask yourself am Ibeing faithful Because that's
all God calls us to be?
Yes, it's faithful.
He don't call us to a certainsize church or to a certain huge
ministry somewhere.
(13:19):
He calls us to be faithful,right, and it's in his
discretion where that happens.
Amen, you know Amen, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I don't know if you remember this or not, but years
ago, before I left here thefirst time well, the first and
last time I left here, youmentioned it'd be good if you
pastored a small church, and Iremember saying out loud to you
I don't think so.
And lo and behold, I did and Iam so grateful for that.
And you're right.
(13:49):
You almost miss out.
If you're not willing to befaithful where you are or where
God has called you to be, You'remissing out on the blessings
that he has for you in thatspace.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Oh, absolutely my first church.
Jan and I were both in college,right, those people just
country people.
They loved on us.
It's credit to them.
I'm still in the ministry todaybecause my first church was an
(14:21):
incredibly loving church,incredibly forgiving church.
And, look, they learned how todo it too.
They survived off studentpastors, All right.
I served in a community where,the four years we were there,
nobody even moved a housetrailer in.
I mean, it was a farmingcommunity and all the land was
(14:45):
landlocked.
And you know, when somebody didfinally get old enough to get
married, mom and daddy gave theman acre out in the cornfield
somewhere and they built a house, but that didn't happen a lot
because it wasn't a bigcommunity, right.
But we still that's halfwaybetween here and where we grew
(15:05):
up and we still from time totime get off that exit and still
visit what was once youngfamilies in that church.
They're still living in thatsame community and we'll
sometimes spend three or fourhours, you know, just visiting
(15:26):
because they still love us andwe still love them.
So that little church was ananchoring point for me and a
blessing beyond anything I couldeven begin to imagine at the
time I was there.
I've joked about it, but it'strue.
You know, I got a couple ofthose junk boxes in my attic
(15:48):
with the high school memorabiliaand a few things from ministry
over the years and I got a fewof those cassette tapes of
sermons and it's good every nowand then to pull one of those
out and listen to it and justremember how bad you were.
And they'd walk out and hug yourneck and tell you that was a
(16:10):
fine sermon.
They had the gift ofencouragement and so, yeah, that
church is the reason I'm stilldoing this today, because I had
a couple of bad ones after that,horrible situations, but I knew
that wasn't what they all were,because I'd had a good one Amen
, you know, yeah, amen.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So when we're talking about shrewdness, obviously in
this text being shrewd is in theworldly sense, but there's also
this idea of being prudent inthe kingdom and there's a
contrast here.
This manager is being shrewd ina negative sense because of the
way he's acting with hismanager's stuff possessions In
(16:56):
the kingdom of God.
In what ways can just a normalaverage layperson believer be
prudent in the kingdom?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Well, I think I say this all the time You've got to
get in the Word.
You've got to understand whatGod teaches is prudent.
What he teaches is wisdom, isdiscernment, and you get that up
in you, so to speak, and youdon't even have to go look it up
.
You just know when you see,when it's not wise, when it's
(17:28):
not prudent.
So I think we have aresponsibility to be good
stewards of everything Godentrusts us with.
I deal with that all the timewith.
I deal with that all the time.
In American culture, everybodythat starts a ministry, doesn't
(17:52):
matter what it is.
They think the church ought topay for it.
Yeah, that's right.
So I'm approached on a regularbasis by some organization or
somebody that believes we oughtto pay their bills.
Okay, so what is wisdom in that?
We have so much money we'reresponsible for.
We got to do ministry here,also right, we got to pay these
(18:14):
bills.
We have to meet this payroll.
We have to take care of thingshere.
So I've learned over the yearswe support a limited number of
things here.
So I've learned over the yearswe support a limited number of
things, and this is what we do.
So when somebody comes to meand says we'd love for you to
support us in this, I have noproblem saying I think that's
(18:37):
great what you're doing, butwe're dedicated to these areas
right now and we're just notwhere we can take on anymore.
And so for us we just had toreach a place where, as pastor,
I felt comfortable saying we'redoing all we can do, you know,
(18:59):
because you cannot reasonablysupport everybody.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Oh goodness no.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And everybody will come to you, okay, and they'll
put the guilt trip on you.
Oh yeah, you're a church.
You ought to be gracious inyour giving.
You ought to.
Well.
It's like I told a guy one time.
He told me God had told him hewas supposed to go to work for
(19:25):
us here and my response was well, as soon as he tells me.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I'll let you know.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So just because somebody tells me that God said
that we're supposed to supportthem doesn't mean that we have
to do that.
And there's a lot ofmanipulation in American
Christianity today that theseministries use to get you to
send them your money.
(19:54):
We've had some speakers come inhere over the years and they
have these side gigs.
One I can think of and it's awonderful thing he's got a
children's home all right, inanother country.
It's a great ministry.
But we invited him to do arevival.
I didn't invite him to get usinto another thing that we're
(20:18):
going to support and I've seenhim a few times over the years
and he didn't have much to sayto me because I told him we
wouldn't support his children'shome.
Right, we had another familyhere who supports a children's
home it's named after them inanother country and they wanted
(20:42):
the church to officially supportit.
Well, we already support achildren's home in Monroe.
We already support mission workin different countries.
We support our missionariesthrough the convention that are
working around the world.
It's not that we're notsupporting, it's that we're
(21:04):
choosing where we believe Godwould have us to support.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Right yeah, the same people that go around asking
churches over and over again formoney are the same people, and
the ones that I've encountereddon't realize that most churches
only have eight% to 10% ofpeople that regularly give, and
so you're functioning off of asmall fraction of the people you
actually pastor.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, and Brent can tell you we've watched this over
the years.
If I get up Sunday and saywe're going to take a special
offering for John Doe, who'sdoing mission work at a certain
place, Now I don't need you togive your tithe to this, we need
your tithe to operate.
But if you feel God leading youto give over and beyond, you
(21:53):
can watch the giving for thechurch go down and John Doe's
giving go up, Because what theydo the average person that does
give brings an amount of moneyand where you want it.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It's not.
I'll give here and here, whereyou want this, $20.
That's where I'm going to giveit, and so you know.
Yeah, they, they don'tunderstand what we deal with.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
In the world standards there's even in the
world and in the kingdom.
It seems like so many peopleare naive or maybe they're just
acting like they're naive to themanipulative practices of the
world, and I've seen that comeinto the church over and over
again.
I mean, I talk to people andhave meetings with people
(22:43):
constantly that are trying tomanipulate me into being part of
something that they think Ishould be a part of, and when I
see that, I see that that's likea business sales practice.
It reminds me of when I go carshopping or when I go shopping
for furniture or whatever.
It's those same kind ofpractices that seep on into the
(23:03):
church.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
It does, because here's what happens, here's what
the world does.
I've experienced it.
Many decades ago I was at avery small church and had to
have a real job, you know, and Iwas selling insurance.
So when I'm going through thetraining, one of the questions
they ask how many people do yougo to church with?
How many folks you know atchurch right when I was in
(23:28):
college, my Sunday schoolteacher tried to get me into
Amway right.
And one of the things he said tome man, you pastor, you know
how much influence you have overpeople, you know how many
people you can bring into thebusiness Because Amway's
multi-level marketing right, andso they literally not only
(23:54):
teach that you should payattention to who you go to
church with, they teach you tomake the church a target, and
I've been unpopular with somepeople over the years because
I've just had to tell them wedon't do that here, we don't do
that here.
If you come to me and you got aministry idea, it's always
(24:16):
cloaked in ministry.
You've got a ministry idea, butthe bottom line is it results
in you making money.
We're not interested, we're nothere for that.
And as far as me as a pastorgetting involved in those kind
of ventures, I just have to tellthem I do church, that's what
(24:36):
God called me to do.
That's all I do.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Right yeah, right Right yeah Right.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
So how do we last question, how do we guard
ourselves as believers againstthis worldly shrewdness?
The Word of God, the Word ofGod.
You've got to know what theWord of God teaches.
Our Lord taught, I think, if Iremember right about a third of
his parables dealt with money,and so you know what the Word of
(25:13):
God teaches.
What does it teach us?
That our own heart will deceiveus, right.
So the problem and it lines upperfectly with this parable is
that when we say it, you hear itall the time follow your heart,
follow your heart.
Well, that'll run you in aditch somewhere.
That's what that'll do, Becausein our culture, in America, we
(25:37):
are materialistic, we love money, we chase money, Okay, we chase
money, okay.
So you've got to get into theWord and you've got to guard
your heart.
You know and make sure how youthink about material things how
you think about money, thesesort of things, you've got to
ask yourself is this honoring ofthe Lord?
(25:58):
And look, the mind is amasterful thing.
We can convince ourselves we'redoing an honorable thing when
in fact we're not, and so Ithink that's why it's so
important to be in the Word.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Right.
Yeah, it's funny you say that Iwas just talking to someone the
other day that when they wereout doing drugs, their drug
dealer when you talk about howpowerful the mind is, their drug
dealer who's high on drugswould open up their Bible and
say the Lord called me to selldrugs so I can share the word
(26:35):
with you.
I mean it sounds ridiculoustalking about that here, but to
them in their crazy evil,twisted mind in that time
thought that that was a prudentthing to do.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Doesn't surprise me at all.
We had a teenager in our youthgroup come to me some years ago
because another teenager in ouryouth group was trying to get
him to smoke marijuana with him,and his line was when I smoke
marijuana, I'm just drawn in somuch closer to the Lord during
(27:13):
that experience, and so I'mtelling you this is how you get
close to Jesus.
Wow, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, you can get drawn in.
I don't know about the Jesus.
Wow, yeah, you can get drawn in.
I don't know about the Jesus,but absolutely.
Well, that's all I got.
Pastor Steve, you got anythingelse, or you?
Good, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Just be mindful that the bottom line teaching of this
parable is that God does nothonor the mishandling of our
stewardship.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Amen, amen.
Appreciate you, brother, thankyou.
Thank you for watching andlistening, guys.
See you on the next one.
Amen, reminder for us to recall in today's divisive
and dark culture, fromfoundational truths and
scripture to the hot topics oftoday's culture.
Allow this podcast to inspireand motivate you on your faith
journey.
All right, well, good morning,pastor, steve.
Good morning, glad that you'rehere again today, glad to be
here, excited to be with you.
Just a quick note for those whoare watching and listening.
(00:42):
We have been doing this now fora while and we appreciate all
of those who have commented andwho continue to listen and watch
each week.
We appreciate you guys and hopethat it's a blessing to you.
So we're going to be in Luke,chapter 16, today for episode
23,.
Luke 16, 1 through 13.
I'm going to go ahead and readand then we'll dive right in Now
(01:25):
.
He was also saying to thedisciples there was a rich man
who had a manager, and We'lldive right in do, since my
master is taking the managementaway from me.
I'm not strong enough to dig,I'm ashamed to beg.
I know what I shall do so thatwhen I'm removed from the
management, people will welcomeme into their homes.
And he summoned each one of hismaster's debtors and he began
saying to the first how much doyou owe my master?
And he said a hundred measures.
Measures of oil.
And he said to him take yourbill and sit down quickly and
write 50.
(01:45):
Then he said to another howmuch do you owe?
And he said a hundred measuresof wheat.
He said to him take your billand write 80.
And his master praised theunrighteous manager because he
had acted shrewdly.
For the sons of this age aremore shrewd in relation to their
own kind than the sons of light.
And I say to you make friendsfor yourselves by means of the
wealth of unrighteousness, sothat when it fails, they will
(02:08):
receive you into the eternaldwellings.
He who is faithful in a verylittle thing is faithful also in
much, and he who is unrighteousin a very little thing is
unrighteous also in much.
Therefore, if you have not beenfaithful in the use of
unrighteous wealth, who willentrust the true riches to you?
And if you have not beenfaithful in the use of that
(02:28):
which is another's, who willgive you that which is your own?
No servant can serve twomasters, for either he will hate
the one and love the other, orelse he will be devoted to one
and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and wealth.
All right, pastor.
So there's a lot of differingviews out there about this
passage, but I'm confident thattoday you can help us shed some
(02:51):
light on that Scripture.
The first thing I'd like to sayis what does shrewd mean in
this text?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, in my understanding, to put it in our
language, it's streetwise, smartin business.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And so that can mean either shrewd in a biblical way
or shrewd in an unbiblical way.
Would you say that is correct?
I think an unbiblical way.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
What's being said about this man is if you think
about it, he's a wheeler dealer.
He's about to lose his job.
He knows he's losing his job,so he begins to make sweetheart
deals with the vendors that dobusiness with his master.
And what he's doing in myhumble opinion, I've seen it a
(03:37):
thousand times in the real worldhe's making friends with his
master's money so that he cansurvive.
After the fact, one of theseold boys is going to give me a
job, somebody's going to help medown the road, because I'm
giving them sweetheart deals now.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Right, yeah, so this would be the reason you
typically don't let someone knowthat you're letting them go
before you let them go.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That would be one of the many reasons.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So in this passage it almostseems like this shrewd manager
is being praised, but obviouslyhe's not.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
He is and he's not.
He's being praised for hisability to think on his feet and
to make shrewd businessdecisions, but if you look at
the end of those verses, he'snot being praised for what he's
done.
I mean, we see people every daythat are shrewd business people
(04:40):
.
That doesn't mean they'renecessarily moral people or
godly people.
They're just good businesspeople.
One of the statements I'veheard throughout my lifetime
that makes me cringe is when youhear a Christian say well, I
had to do it, it's just businessright.
So I think we do a lot ofquestionable things in the name
(05:06):
of business sometimes, and Ithink that's a very dangerous
place.
When you're a believer, a childof God, your code of ethics,
your morality, can't change whenyou clock in at work, and so
this guy had an integrityproblem.
He's already stealing from hismaster, and so when he's caught
(05:31):
he steals even more from hismaster Right, trying to fix
himself up as he's going out thedoor.
And so he's praised for beingshrewd.
He's thinking on his feet,we're going to fix this
situation, but he's not beingpraised.
Notice what's not in thepassage.
He's not being rewarded.
(05:53):
He's not being praised forbeing moral or godly or honoring
to his master in any way, andso it's important to also note
what's not said in that passage,and so it's important to also
note what's not said in thatpassage.
I think the overall meaning ofthe passage is that God will not
honor the mismanaging of hismoney.
(06:13):
As believers, we're allentrusted, whether it's our
personal income, our businessincome, whatever it is.
We're all entrusted.
It's not ours and this is thebiggest flaw a lot of believers
have.
This is my money, I made thismoney, I own this money.
(06:34):
Uh, but I think because it endssaying what?
No man can serve two masters.
What's going to be God in yourlife?
So what made him make thedecisions he made?
Money was driving him.
He was in love with money.
He was not in love with themaster.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And I think it holds true for all of us.
There's not room in your soulto be in love with Jesus and be
in love with the world.
It's just not possible.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And this guy was in love with the world and there's
good business practices andthere's bad business practices,
and I think even in the churchworld there's a temptation to
bring in the business practicesthat reap the most reward, and I
think we have to be careful.
Just like you said, we're asteward of what God has given us
, and so, as the church I meanJesus is.
(07:31):
Obviously, it seems here he'salmost trying to reach Judas
when he's saying this because ofthe temptations in Judas's life
.
But there's also thosetemptations in our lives as well
, the audience for this parableis the disciples.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
He's been talking to the Pharisees Right, and then he
turns to the disciples.
And so who is he entrusting thegospel with?
The disciples?
Right, they've got to be goodmanagers, good stewards of what
he's leaving them in charge of.
You know, and look, it's such afine line.
(08:05):
You want to have good businesspractices in the church also,
but you have to be very careful.
Just because it's a goodbusiness practice doesn't mean
that it's honoring to God.
I'll give you an example.
My generation loves Zig Ziglar.
(08:25):
I had high respect for ZigZiglar, but I also had some
checks and my spirit was ZigZiglar, because here's his
testimony I was selling pots andpans and I was starving to
death Because I'd present myproduct to a housewife.
I knew she wanted those pots andpans.
(08:47):
I could see it.
She'd even tell me I want thesepots and pans but I can't
afford them and I'd feel sorryfor her and I'd walk away.
She didn't get the pots andpans she really wanted and I
didn't make any money.
We both lost and I came torealize that all I was really
(09:08):
doing was giving her what shereally wanted.
Therefore, I was helping her.
Now I know people would arguewith me about this, and that's
okay, but that's manipulationokay.
And so, whatever businesspractices we use in our daily
lives as Christians or in thechurch as we serve the Lord, we
(09:33):
have to be careful we're notcalling it business and using or
manipulating people, becausethe one thing I'm pretty clear
about is Jesus was never happywhen people were used or
manipulated.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah, yeah, yes.
And that brings up what he sayshere in verse.
Let's see if I can find itquick.
Verse 10, he who is faithful ina very little thing is faithful
also in much.
And he who is unrighteous in avery little thing is unrighteous
also in much.
So the idea is, once you beginthose unrighteous in a very
little thing is unrighteous alsoin much.
So.
The idea is, you know, once youbegin those unrighteous
practices, it builds on oneanother and it becomes more and
(10:10):
more unrighteousness.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Exactly, and that's such a huge truth for every
facet of our lives.
I think that applies towhatever you're doing.
You know I remember startingout in the ministry, my first
church.
I started first Sunday withseven people.
I drove two and a half hoursone way.
(10:34):
I did that for four years, okay, and I tried to be faithful as
best I understood what thatmeant.
And each church I've servedalong the way I've tried to be
faithful and ironically believeit or not I've never put out a
(10:56):
resume, Never.
I've been asked for resumes,but I've never given a resume
unsolicited to anybody, becauseI believe if you're faithful,
then God puts you where he wantsyou, where he would have you
serve.
And this is one of the thingsthat concerns me about a lot of
(11:20):
young ministers coming out ofseminary these days.
They want to start here atCovenant Church, Okay, and I've
even gone over there in the pastand interviewed young ministers
to serve some of our missionchurches and I've had them say
things to me like I think Godhas more for me than that or God
(11:41):
would have me do somethingbigger than that.
Well, how do you know that youhadn't done anything small yet?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You know, if you're not willing to do the little
things that God affords you theopportunity to do, he may never
allow you to do anything else.
I can't speak for him.
That's all in his sovereignty.
And I just think sometimes wethink worldly, we think
(12:12):
promotion.
If I'm faithful here at thischurch running 125, god will
give me a church running 300.
But that may not be in God'splan for you.
You may be just what he wantsin that place.
So his reward for you beingfaithful may be something other
(12:33):
than a bigger church.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
You know, and so I think that's one of the greatest
truths in Scripture.
I think that's one of thegreatest truths in Scripture,
and there are so many that arenot willing to be faithful where
they are, but they're mad theyhadn't been blessed with more,
and so I would advise anybody ifyou're not where you think you
(12:58):
ought to be.
Take a step back, take stock inyourself and do some personal
evaluation and ask yourself am Ibeing faithful Because that's
all God calls us to be?
Yes, it's faithful.
He don't call us to a certainsize church or to a certain huge
ministry somewhere.
(13:19):
He calls us to be faithful,right, and it's in his
discretion where that happens.
Amen, you know Amen, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I don't know if you remember this or not, but years
ago, before I left here thefirst time well, the first and
last time I left here, youmentioned it'd be good if you
pastored a small church, and Iremember saying out loud to you
I don't think so.
And lo and behold, I did and Iam so grateful for that.
And you're right.
(13:49):
You almost miss out.
If you're not willing to befaithful where you are or where
God has called you to be, You'remissing out on the blessings
that he has for you in thatspace.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Oh, absolutely my first church.
Jan and I were both in college,right, those people just
country people.
They loved on us.
It's credit to them.
I'm still in the ministry todaybecause my first church was an
(14:21):
incredibly loving church,incredibly forgiving church.
And, look, they learned how todo it too.
They survived off studentpastors, All right.
I served in a community where,the four years we were there,
nobody even moved a housetrailer in.
I mean, it was a farmingcommunity and all the land was
(14:45):
landlocked.
And you know, when somebody didfinally get old enough to get
married, mom and daddy gave theman acre out in the cornfield
somewhere and they built a house, but that didn't happen a lot
because it wasn't a bigcommunity, right.
But we still that's halfwaybetween here and where we grew
(15:05):
up and we still from time totime get off that exit and still
visit what was once youngfamilies in that church.
They're still living in thatsame community and we'll
sometimes spend three or fourhours, you know, just visiting
(15:26):
because they still love us andwe still love them.
So that little church was ananchoring point for me and a
blessing beyond anything I couldeven begin to imagine at the
time I was there.
I've joked about it, but it'strue.
You know, I got a couple ofthose junk boxes in my attic
(15:48):
with the high school memorabiliaand a few things from ministry
over the years and I got a fewof those cassette tapes of
sermons and it's good every nowand then to pull one of those
out and listen to it and justremember how bad you were.
And they'd walk out and hug yourneck and tell you that was a
(16:10):
fine sermon.
They had the gift ofencouragement and so, yeah, that
church is the reason I'm stilldoing this today, because I had
a couple of bad ones after that,horrible situations, but I knew
that wasn't what they all were,because I'd had a good one Amen
, you know, yeah, amen.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So when we're talking about shrewdness, obviously in
this text being shrewd is in theworldly sense, but there's also
this idea of being prudent inthe kingdom and there's a
contrast here.
This manager is being shrewd ina negative sense because of the
way he's acting with hismanager's stuff possessions In
(16:56):
the kingdom of God.
In what ways can just a normalaverage layperson believer be
prudent in the kingdom?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Well, I think I say this all the time You've got to
get in the Word.
You've got to understand whatGod teaches is prudent.
What he teaches is wisdom, isdiscernment, and you get that up
in you, so to speak, and youdon't even have to go look it up
.
You just know when you see,when it's not wise, when it's
(17:28):
not prudent.
So I think we have aresponsibility to be good
stewards of everything Godentrusts us with.
I deal with that all the timewith.
I deal with that all the time.
In American culture, everybodythat starts a ministry, doesn't
(17:52):
matter what it is.
They think the church ought topay for it.
Yeah, that's right.
So I'm approached on a regularbasis by some organization or
somebody that believes we oughtto pay their bills.
Okay, so what is wisdom in that?
We have so much money we'reresponsible for.
We got to do ministry here,also right, we got to pay these
(18:14):
bills.
We have to meet this payroll.
We have to take care of thingshere.
So I've learned over the yearswe support a limited number of
things here.
So I've learned over the yearswe support a limited number of
things, and this is what we do.
So when somebody comes to meand says we'd love for you to
support us in this, I have noproblem saying I think that's
(18:37):
great what you're doing, butwe're dedicated to these areas
right now and we're just notwhere we can take on anymore.
And so for us we just had toreach a place where, as pastor,
I felt comfortable saying we'redoing all we can do, you know,
(18:59):
because you cannot reasonablysupport everybody.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Oh goodness no.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And everybody will come to you, okay, and they'll
put the guilt trip on you.
Oh yeah, you're a church.
You ought to be gracious inyour giving.
You ought to.
Well.
It's like I told a guy one time.
He told me God had told him hewas supposed to go to work for
(19:25):
us here and my response was well, as soon as he tells me.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I'll let you know.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So just because somebody tells me that God said
that we're supposed to supportthem doesn't mean that we have
to do that.
And there's a lot ofmanipulation in American
Christianity today that theseministries use to get you to
send them your money.
(19:54):
We've had some speakers come inhere over the years and they
have these side gigs.
One I can think of and it's awonderful thing he's got a
children's home all right, inanother country.
It's a great ministry.
But we invited him to do arevival.
I didn't invite him to get usinto another thing that we're
(20:18):
going to support and I've seenhim a few times over the years
and he didn't have much to sayto me because I told him we
wouldn't support his children'shome.
Right, we had another familyhere who supports a children's
home it's named after them inanother country and they wanted
(20:42):
the church to officially supportit.
Well, we already support achildren's home in Monroe.
We already support mission workin different countries.
We support our missionariesthrough the convention that are
working around the world.
It's not that we're notsupporting, it's that we're
(21:04):
choosing where we believe Godwould have us to support.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Right yeah, the same people that go around asking
churches over and over again formoney are the same people, and
the ones that I've encountereddon't realize that most churches
only have eight% to 10% ofpeople that regularly give, and
so you're functioning off of asmall fraction of the people you
actually pastor.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, and Brent can tell you we've watched this over
the years.
If I get up Sunday and saywe're going to take a special
offering for John Doe, who'sdoing mission work at a certain
place, Now I don't need you togive your tithe to this, we need
your tithe to operate.
But if you feel God leading youto give over and beyond, you
(21:53):
can watch the giving for thechurch go down and John Doe's
giving go up, Because what theydo the average person that does
give brings an amount of moneyand where you want it.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
It's not.
I'll give here and here, whereyou want this, $20.
That's where I'm going to giveit, and so you know.
Yeah, they, they don'tunderstand what we deal with.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
In the world standards there's even in the
world and in the kingdom.
It seems like so many peopleare naive or maybe they're just
acting like they're naive to themanipulative practices of the
world, and I've seen that comeinto the church over and over
again.
I mean, I talk to people andhave meetings with people
(22:43):
constantly that are trying tomanipulate me into being part of
something that they think Ishould be a part of, and when I
see that, I see that that's likea business sales practice.
It reminds me of when I go carshopping or when I go shopping
for furniture or whatever.
It's those same kind ofpractices that seep on into the
(23:03):
church.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
It does, because here's what happens, here's what
the world does.
I've experienced it.
Many decades ago I was at avery small church and had to
have a real job, you know, and Iwas selling insurance.
So when I'm going through thetraining, one of the questions
they ask how many people do yougo to church with?
How many folks you know atchurch right when I was in
(23:28):
college, my Sunday schoolteacher tried to get me into
Amway right.
And one of the things he said tome man, you pastor, you know
how much influence you have overpeople, you know how many
people you can bring into thebusiness Because Amway's
multi-level marketing right, andso they literally not only
(23:54):
teach that you should payattention to who you go to
church with, they teach you tomake the church a target, and
I've been unpopular with somepeople over the years because
I've just had to tell them wedon't do that here, we don't do
that here.
If you come to me and you got aministry idea, it's always
(24:16):
cloaked in ministry.
You've got a ministry idea, butthe bottom line is it results
in you making money.
We're not interested, we're nothere for that.
And as far as me as a pastorgetting involved in those kind
of ventures, I just have to tellthem I do church, that's what
(24:36):
God called me to do.
That's all I do.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Right yeah, right Right yeah Right.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
So how do we last question, how do we guard
ourselves as believers againstthis worldly shrewdness?
The Word of God, the Word ofGod.
You've got to know what theWord of God teaches.
Our Lord taught, I think, if Iremember right about a third of
his parables dealt with money,and so you know what the Word of
(25:13):
God teaches.
What does it teach us?
That our own heart will deceiveus, right.
So the problem and it lines upperfectly with this parable is
that when we say it, you hear itall the time follow your heart,
follow your heart.
Well, that'll run you in aditch somewhere.
That's what that'll do, Becausein our culture, in America, we
(25:37):
are materialistic, we love money, we chase money, Okay, we chase
money, okay.
So you've got to get into theWord and you've got to guard
your heart.
You know and make sure how youthink about material things how
you think about money, thesesort of things, you've got to
ask yourself is this honoring ofthe Lord?
(25:58):
And look, the mind is amasterful thing.
We can convince ourselves we'redoing an honorable thing when
in fact we're not, and so Ithink that's why it's so
important to be in the Word.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Right.
Yeah, it's funny you say that Iwas just talking to someone the
other day that when they wereout doing drugs, their drug
dealer when you talk about howpowerful the mind is, their drug
dealer who's high on drugswould open up their Bible and
say the Lord called me to selldrugs so I can share the word
(26:35):
with you.
I mean it sounds ridiculoustalking about that here, but to
them in their crazy evil,twisted mind in that time
thought that that was a prudentthing to do.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Doesn't surprise me at all.
We had a teenager in our youthgroup come to me some years ago
because another teenager in ouryouth group was trying to get
him to smoke marijuana with him,and his line was when I smoke
marijuana, I'm just drawn in somuch closer to the Lord during
(27:13):
that experience, and so I'mtelling you this is how you get
close to Jesus.
Wow, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, you can get drawn in.
I don't know about the Jesus.
Wow, yeah, you can get drawn in.
I don't know about the Jesus,but absolutely.
Well, that's all I got.
Pastor Steve, you got anythingelse, or you?
Good, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Just be mindful that the bottom line teaching of this
parable is that God does nothonor the mishandling of our
stewardship.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Amen, amen.
Appreciate you, brother, thankyou.
Thank you for watching andlistening, guys.
See you on the next one.
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