I remember a while back going to the bank during the winter to make a withdrawal from the machine. As I entered the enclosed area where the machine was, I was taken aback by one of our local street people standing there trying to keeping warm. As people came in, he would mumble that he only had $.30 and needed more money for a coffee or a burger. After getting what I needed, I took him across the parking lot to McDonald’s and bought him some food. Later on, after Fellowship was over and I was sitting in my chair at home, I thought about that encounter and what this man had said. I realized I ask myself that same question… and far too often.

When I look at how others live around the world, I realize more and more that we are a blessed people. Even amid the pandemic and the economic fallout, we still have so much more than most people in the world. When we go through difficulties and struggles, we often call them “First World Problems” because that is what they are. Most people in the world cannot even fathom what we complain about because they are struggling just to put food on the table or have a roof over their heads.

Sometimes I ask myself the question, “Why has God blessed us with so much?” In a nutshell: God gives us money and resources to use for eternal purposes. Yes, we can use it to provide for our needs and even enjoy life to a reasonable extent, however, it is not provided for us to be frivolous with it. God expects us to be shrewd with it; to manage it wisely.

When it comes to managing resources, the Bible uses the word, “shrewd.” It’s one of those words that almost sounds a bit sinister, but it really isn’t. The word is used 5 times in the entire Bible. It is used three times in the Hebrew of the Old Testament and twice in the Greek of the New Testament.

In Hebrewhonoring the word shrewd means: having showed that you wrestled with something. In other words, it means that you are encouraged to think things through, look at the pros and cons, and then choose the best choice. In Greek the word shrewd means wise, intelligent, prudent, savvy, or being mindful of what’s best. When you put the two ideas together and you come up with the concept that a shrewd person is someone who has looked at the options and decides upon the wisest and best choice. Now I tell you all of that to get you thinking about the key concept of the parable we are looking at this morning.

Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, calls the parables, “The Autobiography of God.” And I believe that’s a pretty good assessment. Every one of these stories and word pictures that Jesus taught, tells us something about God. And the interesting thing is that each one tells us just one thing about God. I think this is so we don’t get confused trying to figure out the vastness of the God we serve. Parables are our bite-sized chunks of theology, to help us digest God, rather than try to eat the whole burrito of who He is, all at once.

And I believe that this is particularly true of the parable we’ll be looking at today. This is one of the most difficult parables Jesus shared about. It is hard to understand because we try to understand it from the middle instead of starting at the beginning. I don’t want us to make that mistake this morning. Let’s start at the beginning by stating that the parable we are going to look at teaches this one thing about God – that God values our shrewd use of His resources.

In Jesus’ parable of the Shrewd Manager in Luke 16, there are three things I want us to see and understand about money. The first is that the only money we have belongs to the Master. There is nothing hidden away under your mattress, or tucked away in a retirement account, or invested in a mutual fund that isn’t the Master’s money. The Bible is very clear on this point. Everything we have belongs to God and is merely entrusted to us to manage for Him for the period that is our life.

At the beginning of this parable, the problem was that the manager wasn’t doing a very good job of managing his master’s money. And that’s a risk God takes with each one of us.

Wayne Watts has written a book called, The Gift of Giving. In it, he tells the story of a man who had assets in oil fields. One day he hit a gusher, and suddenly he was worth twice as much as before. A couple of days later, a friend asked, “What’s it like to wake up one morning and have twice as much as you had the day before?” The man, who happened to be a Christian replied, “My assets haven’t changed. I didn’t own the first money, so I own the same amount now as before, which is zero. I feel added responsibility to God to manage this new asset well.” This is a foundational understanding all of us need to realize…the only money any of us have is the Master’s money.

Another foundational element in this parable is that since we won’t have the wealth we have for very long, we need to use it now. Now, I know that in Proverbs and other places in Scripture, God commends prudent savings. I’m not speaking against that. But this parable gives another angle on our use of money right now. One of the things it teaches is that money is going to be cut off, eventually. In other words, you can’t take it with you.

There has been so much made in the news lately about how our economy is crashing and the dollar is sinking because of the pandemic. As bad as things are and maybe going, there may be a day when the markets will crash and not recover. We have read the stories that half the businesses in Edmonton will not recover. We almost have to pay people to take our oil. The dollar is like a brick in water. What this parable calls us to do is to then use what we have wisely. And in these dire times, it means we need to be wiser because of the uncertainty of tomorrow.

Here’s the third thing about money that’s taught in this parable… use your resources to reduce people’s financial debts to debts of gratitude. And when you think about it…that’s exactly what the shrewd manager did, and that’s what his master commended him for.

A wise and shrewd investment of God’s resources is when we put what has been entrusted to us toward things that help others come to know and love Jesus Christ.

There are many things money can’t buy, but there are some things that money can buy that have eternal significance. Money can buy Bibles, Sunday School materials, it can support missionaries and pay pastors’ salaries. Money can build buildings for ministry. Money can support evangelists, it can feed the poor and pay electric bills for those that are without jobs. Money can be used to host a barbeque to get to know your neighbours, put gas in a motorcycle tank to go to on a ride and talk to non-Christians about Jesus, and it can be used to pay the lease on a video projector that helps people understand the teaching of God’s Word.

An amazing group that uses its resources for God’s kingdom are the Gideons. They are placing Bibles in hotel rooms, hospital rooms, in the hands of school children, and so on, so that when people need the truth of God, it will be there for them.

Some of us are involved in supporting missionaries who are going places and ministering to people we could never help. But through their work, that we’ve underwritten by our giving, people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ in parts of the world we will never personally visit.

Others of you are investing in Christian schools and colleges that are integrating God’s truth with the various subject matter of human thought. Your investments in these institutions are allowing these schools to adequately prepare the next generation of leaders to advance the Kingdom of God.

Un-shrewd Christians ask things like, “So how much do I have to give?” While the shrewd Christian asks, “How much of the Lord’s money can I invest in future friends?” Jim Elliott said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.”

God has blessed us with many different resources: money, time, and our very lives. Our responsibility is to be shrewd in using what God has provided and in our choices be mindful of honouring God and blessing others in the process.