Offering Ps.123 Prayer of thanksgiving and intercessions Ps.103:2,4,7 Divine blessing

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1 Liturgy for Sunday AM Confession of Dependence and Divine Greeting Ps.24:1,2,3 Ten words of the covenant Ps.40:5,7 Prayer of confession and illumination Ministry of the Word Reading: Luke 16:1-14 Ps.66:7,8 Text: Luke 16:1-8 Like the shrewd manager we need to place our trust in our Master s mercy. We ll see: 1. Why the master commended his dishonest manager. 2. How we need to learn to trust our Master s mercy. Hy.80:1,2,5,6 Offering Ps.123 Prayer of thanksgiving and intercessions Ps.103:2,4,7 Divine blessing Songs for worship taken from the 2010 version of the Book of Praise See for pdf files of Psalms and Hymns Rev. Joe Poppe 1

2 Singing: Ps.24:1,2,3; Ps.40:5,7; Ps.66:7,8; Hy.80:1,2,5,6; Ps.123; Ps.103:2,4,7 Reading: Luke 16:1-14 Text: Luke 16:1-8 Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, The parable of the shrewd manager is one of the most difficult parables in the New Testament to understand. In it we are confronted with a man who was steward or manager in his master s house. It was a position of responsibility and trust. Yet this man is accused of wasting his master s possessions. When he was called to account, he realized he was going to lose his job. So he called in his master s debtors, and reduced the amount that they owed. He gave them a big discount on how much of the produce of the land they would have to pay as rent. In doing so he didn t act in his master s best interest, but basically stole from him. The really difficult thing about this parable is that the Lord Jesus commends this unfaithful steward. Although the manager of his estate was dishonest, Jesus holds him up as an example for us. Is the Lord Jesus compromising with evil? Is he approving shrewdness, whereby we take whatever we can get in this dog-eat-dog world? Is it okay to be dishonest in order to secure our livelihood, or to try to get ahead in life? If not, then how are we to understand this parable? What is the message that the Lord Jesus is communicating to his disciples, and to the Pharisees, who were listening in on his teaching? What message can we take home from this parable today? In John 8:44 the Lord Jesus condemns all lying and deceit as coming from the devil, who is the father of all lies. In Luke 12 he warned God s people: Watch out! Be on guard against all kinds of greed; a man s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. In the verses following our text Jesus says, Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. (Luk.16:10). He made it clear that you cannot serve both God and Money (Luk.16:13). Clearly, Jesus does not approve of this unfaithful manager s dishonesty. This point needs to be absolutely clear. The dishonesty of the manager in our parable is not what earns Jesus commendation. So why does Jesus approve of him? That s what we hope to investigate together this morning. Some would suggest that Jesus approved of how he acted shrewdly. That s true! But how did he act shrewdly? What precisely did this manager do to get himself out of the trouble he was in? What characteristic of his master did he rely on, in order to save himself from public disgrace? What was it about his master that he used to save his own skin? Understanding that will teach us something very important about our Saviour Jesus Christ, and our relationship with him. I preach to you the Word of God under the following theme: Like the shrewd manager we need to place our trust in our Master s mercy. We ll see: 1. Why the master commended his dishonest manager. 2. How we need to learn to trust our Master s mercy. To understand the parable before us, we need to have a good understanding of the type of business that this rich man was in, and the role that his manager played in this business. It appears that the master owned agricultural land, which was rented out to tenants. He had a manager of his estate, who was responsible for managing the accounts. The tenants used the land to grow olives and wheat and perhaps other crops. It was common practise for the rent to be paid in produce. Before the season began, the renters negotiated with the manager the amount they would pay to use the land. It was a fixed number of gallons of oil, or a fixed number of bushels of wheat. In the parable that Jesus tells, the manager held a responsible position. We need to realize that this manager was not a humble servant in his master s house. He was a steward of his master s possessions. He basically ran his employer s business and was ultimately responsible only to him. In the Bible we have various examples of men who served as stewards or managers. Rev. Joe Poppe 2

3 Think of how Joseph served in Potiphar s house, and later as second in command of Egypt under Pharaoh. Romans 16:23 mentions Erastus, who served as the treasurer of the city of Rome. The point is that this manager held a very responsible position. He held a position of trust. Yet this manager abused his master s trust. He was accused of wasting his master s possessions. Thus the master called his manager in and said to him, What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer. It is pretty obvious that the master was not accusing his manager on the basis of hearsay. No one in business does that. If you are going to accuse one of your employees of dishonesty, you need to have proof. The master must have had that proof, for he has already come to a conclusion. He told his steward, You cannot be manager any longer. Yet note how smart the owner is in addressing his manager about his wrongdoing. He does not tell him what he has done wrong. He asks him to give account. Perhaps the master only knows part of what the manager has done wrong. There would have been many different ways in which the manager could steal from his master. He had charge over his business affairs. Thus the manager is told to turn in the account books. He had to hand in the account ledgers in which the sums owed by various debtors were recorded. This shows that the manager was dismissed from his job. In today s language we would say that he was fired with cause. Note also how shrewd the manager is in dealing with this situation. Normally if a steward was accused of dishonesty, he would loudly and insistently protest his innocence. As manager, he would have been careful about how he stole from his master. He would have had options by which to defend himself and blame everyone else, including his master. Yet what is amazing in this parable is that the manager is silent. He says nothing and walks out of his master s presence. By doing so he indicates that he is guilty, that his master knows it, that offering excuses will not help, and that he will soon be out of a job. The fact that the master let him go is also supremely important. This manager was fired, but not jailed. A Jewish commentary on the Old Testament makes it clear that a manager was expected to pay for any loss of goods for which he was responsible. As a steward of his master s possessions, his master could have had him tried before the courts, and jailed. But he did not. He didn t even scold his manager. Under the circumstances the master was being unusually merciful towards this unfaithful steward. Jesus audience would have picked up on this master s generosity and mercy towards his dishonest manager. The manager walks out, thinking about what he is going to do. His whole life has been turned upside down. He had this cushy job, a position of responsibility and trust. A job where he had opportunity to use his master s possessions for his own use. Yet now he had been fired. Jesus continues the parable by telling us about what this manager was thinking inside himself. He 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. The manager plots about how to get out of his predicament. In trying to find a solution, this manager considers his options. It is quite remarkable that he considers digging. An educated man, who holds a position of authority, is not expected to consider manual labour. We expect him to reject this option because it is below his dignity. Yet he only rejects it because of his physical weakness. He also rejects begging. Although begging was accepted in Jewish society, those who begged were often despised. This manager needs to find another job. But who would hire him, if he was fired for being dishonest? The manager realizes that he needs to change his devastating public image. The manager develops his plan. He says, I know what I ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses. In the parable the Lord Jesus doesn t explain exactly how the manager hopes to accomplish this. Like any good story-teller he just allows the drama to unfold. Jesus explains how the manager called in each of his master s debtors, and reduces the amount they will have to pay for rent come harvest time. Rev. Joe Poppe 3

4 The key to this manager s plan is that no one yet knows that he has been fired. He has been told to hand in the account ledgers in which the sums owed by various debtors were recorded. Yet before he does so, he quickly summoned each of the debtors. These debtors were relatively rich and important men. The fact that they came shows that they think that this manager is still acting on behalf of his master, the rich man from whom they rented their land. There is no way that they would willingly participate in fraud against the owner of the land. If they knew there was any kind of deception involved, they would break trust with him. In the parable, Jesus gives two examples of how the manager reduced the rents of those using his master s lands. The one who owed eight hundred gallons of olive oil was told to sit down and make it four hundred. The second who owed a thousand bushels of wheat was told to make his bill eight hundred. Commentators suggest that the value of each reduction was about 500 denarii. One denarius was the common wage paid to a labourer for a day s work. Thus the sums involved are large. The manager would more often give a discount on the rents charged on his master s fields. He was in regular contact with his master s debtors, and it was his job to know what was happening on his land. He knew if the rain was bad, the sun hot, or the worms active. If there was drought, or a spring dried up, or blight spread across a field, the master was expected to provide some kind of discount. Yet, usually the renter would have to plead his case. In this situation, it is the manager who voluntarily offers the renters a substantial discount. Why would the manager do this? Our text indicates that it is so that when he loses his job, these people would welcome him into their homes. But why would they welcome him? Certainly not because he cheated his master! If the master wanted to, he could make public the fact that he had fired his manager, and that the manager had defrauded him, and that the renters would have to pay rent at the originally negotiated prices. The question is: would the master be willing to do this? Remember that in the Middle East, community relations are valued above all else. You can just imagine what happened in this village when this rich landowner s manager offered the townspeople a substantial discount on the produce they would have to pay at the end of the year. It would have been party time. There would have been joy and excitement throughout the village. Everyone would have been thankful to the rich landowner for his generosity, and to his manager for arranging for such a wonderful Christmas bonus. Jesus does not praise the manager for his dishonesty. He praises him for his shrewdness. How was this manager shrewd? He knew his master well. He knew that his master was merciful. After all, despite his dishonesty, all the master had done was fire him. He hadn t required him to pay back what he owed, or thrown him into jail. The manager knew that his master was at heart a generous man. One full of mercy! He arranged the discounts, presuming on his master s mercy. The master could turn around, publicize the scam, and throw his manager into jail. But that would involve revoking the discounts offered. The master knows that the villagers were already starting a great round of celebrations in praise of him as the most noble and generous man from whom they had ever rented land. If he says that this was all a mistake, their joy would be turned to anger, and he would be cursed for his stinginess. So the master decides to keep silent. To accept the praise being showered on him, and to allow his clever manager to ride high on the wave of popular opinion. The manager would have been a pretty popular man in town, because it would have been presumed that he pushes the land owner to give these generous discounts. Thus the master praises his manager because he had acted shrewdly. The word for being shrewd can also be translated wisely. What the master is saying is that his manager is a very wise fellow. He put together a perfect plan that would prevent his master from publicizing his dishonesty, and that would endear him to all the people of that village. The only reason the manager was able to pull this off was because he knew his master well. He knew that his master Rev. Joe Poppe 4

5 was generous and that he was merciful. The manager risked his future on this evaluation of his master s character. Because the master was indeed generous and merciful, he chose to pay the full price to save his manager from shame and defeat. In our first point we ve seen why the master was willing to commend his dishonest manager. In our second point we ll consider how we need to learn to trust our Master s mercy. It is important for us to understand that the Lord Jesus tells the parable of the shrewd manager in a specific context. At the beginning of Luke 15 it says, Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear him [i.e. Jesus]. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered, The man welcomes sinners and eats with them. This leads the Lord Jesus to tell three parables in Luke 15: the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son. Each of these parables makes it clear that Jesus came into this world to call sinners to repentance. These parables make clear God s mercy in Christ in offering forgiveness to those who have sinned. In these parables Jesus makes clear that there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninetynine righteous persons who do not need to repent. In Luke 16 Jesus told the parable of the shrewd manager. Luke 16:1 indicates that Jesus told this parable to his disciples. Yet Luke 16:14 says that the Pharisees heard heard all this. Thus it is to both his followers and also to Israel s religious leaders that Jesus spoke the concluding words of this parable. He said, The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. Jesus introduces a contrast here between the people of the world and the people of the light. The people of the world know their own kind, and are clever in their dealings with each other. Not so the children of light. God s covenant people had forgotten what God was like, and so they did not know how to relate to him properly. The Jews in Jesus day believed that they had to merit salvation through their own good works. Jesus wanted God to be known as one who loves sinners. He was still responding to the charge that he spent too much time in the company of sinners and other undesirable people. By means of the parable of the shrewd manager Jesus wants to make clear that he came to save sinners. The manager in our parable knew the character of his master. He knew that he was a generous man, full of mercy. He took full advantage of what he believed to be true about his boss. When he got caught wasting his master s possessions and was called to give account, his only option was to entrust everything to the unfailing mercy of his generous master. His whole scheme of giving discounts to his master s debtors was based on the premise of his master s mercy. Today, many Christian s biggest struggle in living the Christian life is to see clearly the goodness and grace of God. Our mindset of what God is like is often based on how we view our parents. Now whether you are blessed with good parents or not, all parents have their flaws, and our image of God is often distorted as a result. The Pharisees had almost completely forgotten what God was like, and focused all the attention on what they themselves or on what the people did. They commended themselves because they thought they were keeping the law, and they despised the people because they judged them as being law-breakers. By means of the parable of the shrewd manager Jesus wanted to communicate a message for the people of his day. Near the end of Luke 13, Jesus mourned the hardness of heart of God s covenant people. He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (Luk.13:34). Jesus greatest desire was for his people to come to him, and find rest and peace under the shelter of his wings. Rev. Joe Poppe 5

6 At the same time this parable was a warning for the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They were the leaders of God s covenant people. They saw themselves as being in charge. Yet in actual fact they were only stewards or managers in God s house. They had lost sight of the goodness and mercy of God. Because of that they were poor shepherds. Instead of displaying God s tender loving care in their dealings with his people, they were harsh and unloving in their approach. In an indirect way the Lord Jesus was calling them to account for their unfaithfulness. Thus Jesus wanted to give all of God s covenant people, leaders and followers alike, a perspective on who God is. Jesus was asking why it is, if a shrewd manager could know the heart of his boss, why we the children of light cannot see how merciful God is. The Jews in those days had lost touch with the tenderness of God. The children of the world do better in their own realm and with their own kind than God s people do in their understanding of him. We need to learn that our heavenly Father has a soft heart, and that he is full of tender loving care. Let me ask you, beloved, about how you reacted the last time when you blew it? What did you do the last time when you let God down? Did you just paper over your sin, and try to forget about it? Or did it cause you to fall into despair, thinking that God couldn t love a miserable wretch like me? Why would you react to your sins in such destructive ways? Papering over your sins doesn t get rid of them. You might be able to shove them under the carpet for a while, but eventually you ll be forced to deal with them. Despairing at your sin, but refusing to humble yourself and seek forgiveness is also useless. As God s children we need to know that despite whatever we do, we serve a merciful and loving God. When we sin, we need to remember who our God is. To think of how our merciful Father sent his dearly loved Son into this world to die for our sins. We can plead on God s love, the same way that this manager banked on his master s mercy. Beloved, no matter how foolish you have been, no matter how stupid, no matter how unworthy you can cling to Christ s blood, shed for you on the cross. In Christ God loves you. Please learn to know who your God is. God is merciful. Mercy is the quality of not dealing with someone as they deserve. When someone is merciful, they do not punish you according to what you deserve. A judge is merciful if he gives someone a warning, rather than fining or jailing him. If God dealt with us according to what we have done, he would condemn us to hell for all our sins. But he doesn t, because of his mercy in Christ. Psalm 103 speaks about this. David says, The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. (Psa.103:8-13). Next week we hope to celebrate the Lord s Supper together. We need to prepare for that through self-examination. Consider your life, beloved. Compare what you say and do with what God requires of you in the Ten Commandments. Recognize your sins and your accursedness. But don t despair because of them. Instead repent! Ask for forgiveness. Plead on Father in heaven s mercy. On his great love for you in Jesus Christ. Then you will be able to come to the Lord s table with a humble and contrite heart. Rejoicing as you remember Christ s sacrifice for your sins. Thankful for his grace and mercy. You may come, not because of how good you are, but because you serve a God full of mercy and love. Amen. Rev. Joe Poppe 6