hotcoffee
New Member
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
This is the place where a lot of preachers go astray, IMHO. In my humble opinion this parable is not about money. It's about ethic.
There are a couple of preachers on WAVA who deal with these verses on a regular basis. They twist them and distort them until they say, Jesus wants you to have money, be rich, buy a fine house and a fine car.
IMHO that's not what Jesus was saying at all.... Look back at the prodigal son. He got hired on to care for the pigs. He could have very easily taken some of those pods and eaten them. He didn't tho. That's a good ethic.
This manager just didn't do his job. People were always borrowing but no one was repaying. It was his job to collect the payments. He didn't do his job until he was threatened with loosing it. Likewise.... we don't care about our futures until we are threatened with loosing that future.
There as lot of talk about faith vs works. The plain truth is, once you give your life to Christ, it's your job to guard that future and your works [like the manager going out to collect] by acting Christ like. According to verse 9 we will inherit a wonderful eternal dwelling. On top of that, we are given a supervisor in the Holy Spirit who is more than happy to guide us.
Jesus makes it really clear here when He says "you can't serve two masters". He needs to be the master of you life, not you. If you, infected with the sin nature as you are, run your life without His assistance... well you doomed to screw it up. Let Him run it through the Holy Spirit... and you get eternal life.
It's about ethic.... our position is "Child of God" and although we are not begotten as Jesus is... we are still responsible for acting as a "Child of God".
Luke 16:1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
3 “The manager 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— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 “‘Nine hundred gallons[a] of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’
7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
8 “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. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10 “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. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.
3 “The manager 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— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 “‘Nine hundred gallons[a] of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’
7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
8 “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. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10 “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. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.
This is the place where a lot of preachers go astray, IMHO. In my humble opinion this parable is not about money. It's about ethic.
There are a couple of preachers on WAVA who deal with these verses on a regular basis. They twist them and distort them until they say, Jesus wants you to have money, be rich, buy a fine house and a fine car.
IMHO that's not what Jesus was saying at all.... Look back at the prodigal son. He got hired on to care for the pigs. He could have very easily taken some of those pods and eaten them. He didn't tho. That's a good ethic.
This manager just didn't do his job. People were always borrowing but no one was repaying. It was his job to collect the payments. He didn't do his job until he was threatened with loosing it. Likewise.... we don't care about our futures until we are threatened with loosing that future.
There as lot of talk about faith vs works. The plain truth is, once you give your life to Christ, it's your job to guard that future and your works [like the manager going out to collect] by acting Christ like. According to verse 9 we will inherit a wonderful eternal dwelling. On top of that, we are given a supervisor in the Holy Spirit who is more than happy to guide us.
Jesus makes it really clear here when He says "you can't serve two masters". He needs to be the master of you life, not you. If you, infected with the sin nature as you are, run your life without His assistance... well you doomed to screw it up. Let Him run it through the Holy Spirit... and you get eternal life.
It's about ethic.... our position is "Child of God" and although we are not begotten as Jesus is... we are still responsible for acting as a "Child of God".