Shrewd Management. Jesus said: The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.

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1 Shrewd Management Amos 8:4-7 1 Timothy 2:1-15 Luke 16:1-15 Pentecost 18 Jesus said: The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. Amen. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Bridge The first of three presidential debates is a week from Monday (on the 26 th ). All of those, along with the one that s between the vice-presidential candidates, will decide winners and losers largely-upon the shrewdness of their performance. For debates, right or wrong (maybe, sometimes, right or righter) is less of a factor than are the feelings one leaves people with over the other. Decided-voters became-that because of issues (but also, often, the shrewdness of a candidate early-on). Undecided voters, though, (with, almost, less influence in issues which have been out-there for awhile) vote almost-entirely for the winner of the Shrewdness-contests which the debates are. Long known for hers, Mrs. Clinton maybe can only hurt herself by not living-up to expectations-of-her in that. Mr. Trump appears to more bumble with that (or else he s shrewd, really, or cagy, like a fox). He s been (by background) shrewd, probably, in business where she has been in the political sector, and business and politics are the two places where this adjective s used most, so where wisdom (in other sectors) might be the characteristic deemed more desirable, business and politics made it the popular one as far back as, I think, that word s

2 been available. And, so, in the only New Testament use of it, Jesus gets shown wishing-it upon disciples who follow Him. Text See, Jesus recognized the caginess of people for this world. People (without even consciously trying) work (for the most part and almost constantly) to perfect the street-smarts that practically-benefit the navigating of both the challenges and (even more-so) the opportunities of this earthly existence. Here, Jesus commends that effort and developed skill, wondering, just, why Christians don t use that same ingenuity, effort, and dedication (shrewdness) toward eternal things. So He told a parable about His Father s trust of (what He calls) managers to do Good / generous things with His trust everybody being a manager entrusted with all that s His. Creation and procreation, those things He s put under our management. But so is His Gospel and the eternal care (with it) of neighbors like family members, coworkers, and classmates. The environment is everyone s concern and I doubt that there are, here, purposeful litterers in the room. A good portion of us probably recycle and we d be upset (I know) if factories around us irresponsibly pumped fumes into the air. We admire the beauty of God s creation and enjoy the sites of it all and we re thankful-to-god for making it all available to us, we marvel, even, at the majesty He so-creatively laid-out with His divine hands. In the parenting and the educating of our kids, we do our best, yet work hard each day to improve-on-that. We exert effort in parenting, talking (parent to parent) to learn better ideas, trying (really trying).

3 In finances and with work, we, either, pride ourselves in our management of it all or, there, we re honest in our dissatisfaction with our ability or will-power. In the case of Jesus example (His parable), that man got commended for his ingenuity and final honesty and effort: his attempt to salvage or cover-up failures was shrewd (the Lord said), so, at least, in that, Jesus had favorable remarks about him because of what he showed was, at least, a last-minute respect and diligence for generosity. Knowing himself facing prison (or, really, Hell) for his lack of having, before, even tried to manage the rich man (God s) trust ( dishonest in a very little, as Jesus said) at least he came to his senses and took-up his responsibility (acknowledging, finally, to-whom he d been responsible, so scrambling to gain favor with Him, doing-so through a generosity that was on God s behalf, aware that this had been required of him from the beginning). And why wouldn t it have been? God is generous first, so why wouldn t He expect the same from us? GENEROUSLY, He says He desires that all be saved and come to the knowledge of truth and, then, shows-that by being constant to make that possible. The cross is the most gracious act-of-generosity there ever could-be: the sacrifice of life for, even, those opposed-to-him, shedding blood (enough and of enough quality) to account-for everyone who d ever live and, then, freely giving salvation that way as, just, gift to those who d accept it, entirely-cancelling debts, (eliminating them choosing to know the debts of confessedsins no longer ). Out of generosity, God does all the things the Apostles and Nicene Creeds say, giving (even though He never has to even to evil people) body and soul, eyes, ears, reason and sense, and continuing to care for them, clothing, shoes, food, drink, house, home, wife, children,

4 everything richly and daily providing for all that anyone needs to support an earthly body and life, giving His Son, also, to purchase and win-back everyone from the sting of death and the dominion of the Devil, buying-all-who-would-be-bought not with coins (gold or silver) but with precious and divine blood, and, again, divine and innocent suffering and death. Application Our culture (upon this earth) champions the characteristics of shrewdness (being, workingat, and acting, sharp-witted, perceptive, smart, clever, usefully-intelligent and astute). We mostadmire (I think), so crave to be ourselves, those things that can help in worldly ways. And the Lord admires that in us, just wants that same characteristic of us (or, at least, trying for it) to use for our growth in His Kingdom as well which is where laziness or distractions take their effect or, maybe just, a lacking of maturing faith. Maybe our struggle or laziness is in exerting for things that we can t see or instructions that don t give to us immediate rewards. Maybe our vision is too short or narrow or our thoughts are too near-term or our ambitions we meet through things instead of through cosmic things. Maybe we, just, aren t able to exert effort two different directions which is, probably, why Jesus spoke harshly about the worship of mammon or things ( You can t serve God and money ). Humanity thinks we can it thinks we can effectively multi-task but, really, we have trouble with doing one thing like we re supposed-to so with two things (God with mammon / money or success or power) God, mostly, gets forgotten as more than, just, a name and we can offer, just, lip-service to the One Who we owe everything-to. But that s where mercy and forgiveness fit-in. Anyone repenting can start-anew in

5 attempts, effort, commitment, desire, and, even, SHREWDNESS USED FOR GOD. The way Jesus parable turned out, there was an accounting asked of the manager and he got, that way, humbled and turn-back to concern Himself, anew, with how he stood before the One Who d trusted him. This was a WARNING FOR ANYONE S SECOND CHANCE. The manager in Jesus story turned from unrighteousness (wastefulness and dishonesty) and, finally, submitted to the boss, returning generosity-for-generosity rather than neglect. He received, that way, the generosity-from-god that had always been there (what God had wanted for him the whole time). Eternal dwellings, it appears, got to be his and Jesus surprised the Pharisees with that (grace and mercy where they anticipated, I think, revenge): that God is faithful and just, eager to forgive sins and cleanse from all unrighteousness even for a lazy or wrongly-directed manager who returns. And that s wonderful news because it s the kind of failure we are so often guilty of. I know, for instance, that I let God down where He trusts me and how thankful I am, then, for His mercy whenever I return to Him. As such, it s upon a confession that I, by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the Lord, get to do a wonderful thing: announce the grace of God, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, forgive all confessed sins in the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Be, now, shrewd and sharp-witted and perceptive and smart and clever and usefullyintelligent and astute and cagy just be-it all for the Lord. In +Jesus name. Amen.