(01/06/19) Jeremiah Cua
People of the Light, Be Wise Stewards

Scriptures: Luke 16:1-13; Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Outline:

Introduction: Satan wants to take control of the fallen mankind by means of the worldly wealth; therefore, wealth is also called “The wealth of unrighteousness”. “The unrighteous steward” speaks of the unbelieving people.

1.The sons of this age – The unrighteous steward is shrewd handling the worldly matters (Luke 16:1-8)
“Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.’ 5 And he summoned each one of his master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.”

a. He squandered his master’s possessions …. Can no longer be his steward.
b. He took opportunities to make friends utilizing his master’s possessions, so his friends will receive him into their homes.
• He used his master’s wealth to make friends in order to secure his future shelter.
• Unjust manager, unrighteous wealth, unrighteous behavior, yet a shrewd action.

2. The Lord’s sad comment
“The people of the light” is not as wise as the “The people of this world”, they do not take the opportune action to prepare for the eternal dwellings; they become “The foolish stewards”.

• Could that be you, or me?

3. The Lord’s calling: (v9-13)
“9 And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. 10 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is 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.”

a. Today you and I possess certain wealth, but that is entrusted to us by God. They belong to God. Please remember, the nature of “Money” is unrighteous. Money can deceive us, can take control of “the manager of God”, so we will become mindful of today’s personal gain, and neglect the future —to plan for “The eternal dwellings”, become the foolish manager.
b. The Lord calls us to become his manager – to manage the possessions that He entrust to us, to make friends for the sake of the house of God.. When we depart from this world, or when the Lord returns, today’s wealth will become useless. Until that day, we are in eternity, to the eternal dwellings, The Lord will change the “unrighteous wealth” into the “true riches” for us to use.
• This is the kind of wise steward that God would like to receive. Would that be you, or me?

4. My personal testimony

Speaker: Jeremiah Cua, Interpreter: Eleanor Ng