Sermons for the Month
"There's Shrewd, and then There's Shrewd"
DATE: September 19, 2004
SERVICE: 16th Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: Luke 16:1-13To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
This summer I preached a sermon that I titled, "There is rich, and then there is rich," that focused on the fact that we equate the word rich with money, but in fact there are many ways to be rich and some are of more value than others. Well, today's sermon expands that idea with this statement, "There is shrewd and then there is shrewd."
That's a great word, isn't it? Shrewd means to be clever or astute. In today's confusing Gospel lesson Jesus tells about a clever man who is anything but a model citizen. He is the manager; we might think of him as the chief financial officer of a large-scale business.
Evidently he has been playing golf instead of managing the accounts, so he is about to be fired. He is not too keen on doing manual labor or on collecting welfare, so he comes up with a clever plan.
He is going to ingratiate himself with the owner's clients so that once he's without a job they'll owe him a favor. So, he offers huge discounts on what is owed. In other words, he cheats his boss by reducing the amounts that the debtors are obligated to pay. Of course he makes it clear to the clients that he is responsible for the reductions. That way, they'll be obligated to reciprocate when he's out on his ear and he'll at least have a place to live and food to eat.
But, we ask, why does the boss in the parable commend his actions? After all, he is on the losing end of the deal. It's important to note that it's not because he's dishonest that the manager was commended, but because he was shrewd. Faced with a personal crisis he showed that he could come up with a plan and act decisively. The manager not only protected his future but he made it impossible for his boss to rescind the discounts without losing face and creating bad will among his clients. He is a clever guy.
Yet, we cannot quite get our minds around the fact that Jesus seems to be approving this type of behavior, shrewd or not. This is where today's theme comes into the picture, "There is shrewd and then there is shrewd." Jesus is saying that he wants his followers to be shrewd, clever, astute BUT not in the ways of the world. Instead, they are to be shrewd, clever and astute in the ways of the Kingdom of God. To quote a commentator I read, "Jesus is calling his disciples to become as savvy in the ways of the kingdom as other people (like this manager) are savvy to the ways of the world."
Now, let's think about that for a minute. What does it mean to be savvy in the ways of the kingdom? Well, to put it simply, it means that we take that which the world values and the ways that people "of the world" live and turn it upside down. In the world it's shrewd to get revenge but in the kingdom forgiveness is what's clever. In the world the savvy attitude is, if it feels good do it, but in the kingdom respect for oneself and others is the way to go. In the world the astute persons gets, but in the kingdom astuteness is measured by giving.
Do you see what I mean? There is shrewd and then there is shrewd. When Jesus says, "Make friends by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal home," he is not touting the importance of influencing the right people. Instead he's saying to take the money you have - which is called dishonest wealth just because it's of the world - and use it to do the work of the kingdom. That's the shrewd thing to do because when a person dies the value of all that worldly wealth will disappear. (We all know you cannot take it with you.)
So, Jesus says, use that money in ways that please God. Make friends with it by meeting needs and by introducing people to the good news of Jesus Christ - that's the shrewd thing to do. How you use your resources should reflect kingdom values. That's what it means to be faithful with dishonest wealth.
The challenging message here is that those who are faithful in this world - which includes how we use our money - will gain access to true riches in the next. And, in reverse, the one who has not been shrewd in the ways of the kingdom, whose lives does not reflect kingdom values, may not enjoy true riches in eternity. Remember we are saved because of our faith. But, the fact that we are people of faith should be reflected in how we live, and that includes how we use our money.
In last week's Weekly Beacon there was a stewardship message that said this, "Paul does not command the rich to become poor, he commands them to be generous". That is, those who can are encouraged to use their money to do good.
That must have been on my mind on Sunday when I was reading the Parade magazine and noted a "tidbit" about a movie star who has a home in the south of France, a 2.3 million gated mansion in Los Angeles and recently bought a Caribbean island for 3.5 million.
I can't help it; I just do not understand that. Maybe there is a good reason for it, perhaps there is some great tax advantage or maybe the island will become a nature preserve, but surely that 3.5 million could have been put to better use by creating a foundation or an endowment or building a clinic or two. Perhaps, by the standards of the world it was a shrewd investment, but was it shrewd by Kingdom standards? I guess answering that question is God's department, not mine. But remember, there is shrewd and then there is shrewd.
All this should cause us to reflect on our way of living in the world. Are we clever and astute? Are we savvy and shrewd? And, if the answer to those questions is "yes", the next question is of utmost importance. Do those descriptions fit us because we are shrewd in the way of the world or in the ways of the kingdom of God? Do we use our resources to do the work of the kingdom of God? Is that priority obvious in our life-styles and in our check books?
It's a question that applies even if we cannot buy a 3.5 million dollar island that may be a shrewd investment in the world but a total waste as far as God is concerned. You see, one can waste $100 as well as one can waste 3.5 million. And, those same amounts can be used in Christ-like ways.
Our goal is to be savvy people savvy in the ways to the Kingdom of God. That means our choices to give and to serve may seem foolish to some, but are viewed as quite clever by God, whose opinion is all that matters. Like I said, there is shrewd and then there is shrewd. AMEN