Thank you. Didn't you love to praise the Lord in song? What a joy. Well, good morning. Welcome to Blacksburg Christian Fellowship. So glad we can be together here in the auditorium, in the other four venues in our building. And we're thankful for you who are joining us online. It is a joy to be together, to worship the Lord, to hear from the Holy Word. Also, a special welcome to our visitors. If you're new with us, just want to tell you how glad we are to have you here. And just we're praying that God would bless and encourage you in your time with us. If you've got any questions or simply if you'd like prayer, I'll be here after the service. Please don't hesitate to come up. Be an honor to meet you. Today I've titled our message, The Training of the Shrewd. And that's right, The Training of the Shrewd. And one of the things you may know in BCF is we don't spend a lot of time talking about money. And so this is suddenly gonna be one of those rare times that no one could accuse us. There are some churches that spend way too much time talking about finances. We are not guilty of that, but we preach Christ and we go through the word of God. And it happens that this morning, as we last week, and Luke studied the prodigal son, this week, Jesus is talking about money and how our view of finances should affect the way we live in preparation for eternity. So as the word of God brings these things up, we want to unpack them and understand them, that we might apply them in our own personal lives. But let me just back up and recall, last week, Jeff, as I mentioned, did a great job unpacking for us the parable of the prodigal son. Jesus is teaching, there's a great crowd around him, all kinds of people, and with that parable, Jesus addressed various segments of the crowd that was with him. In today's passage, he hones in and he speaks to his disciples. And he talks to us as followers of Christ that he might influence the way we view the treasures, the things that we enjoy here in this planet. So let's open our Bibles, if you would please, to Luke chapter 16. We're gonna be looking at verse one through 13. Luke 16, verse one through 13. Hear the word of God. He also said to the disciples, there was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, what is this I hear about you? Give account of your management, for you can no longer be manager. And the manager said to himself, what shall I do? Since my master is taking my management away from me, I'm not strong enough to dig. I'm ashamed to beg. I've decided what I'll do. I... so that when my manager removes me from the management, people may receive me into their houses. So summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, how much do you owe my master? And he said, a hundred measures of oil. He said to him, take your bill and sit down quickly and write 50. Then he said to another, how much do you owe? And he said, a hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him, take your bill and write 80. The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness, for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings. One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust you the true riches? And if you've not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for this moment we have just to pause, grateful to be together, grateful for the technology that many in our own homes are able to be with us and hear and share the Word of God and in worship. And we pray that you would illumine by your Holy Spirit this scripture, that you would write it on our hearts and you would change us by the power of your love so that our lives would reflect the reality of the fact that we, by the death and resurrection of Christ, have become your beloved children. Speak to us and work your grace in our hearts, we pray with thanksgiving in Christ's name, amen. This parable has caused theologians through the ages a lot of headache. The fact is that Jesus doesn't fit real well into our little boxes. At the surface, it looks like Jesus is praising a man who not only mismanages his boss's wealth, but then given the opportunity, he further gives away what's not his own for his own personal benefit. And you think, oh Jesus, how does that help us be good Christian people? You know, help us to figure this out. The reality is, and it's helpful to remember, that a principle of biblical interpretation is that parables are generally designed to teach one central principle. There are a lot of details, but the details in this parable are not individually to have significance. One major point Jesus is making here with this teaching. And yet, one of the things we realize is that Jesus is regularly scrambling our categories. If anyone thinks God is predictable, he doesn't know the Jesus of the Bible. As a matter of fact, one thing that strikes me this time of year is the whole narrative of the birth of Christ. And I hope you'll be back next week. We start our Advent series. We're going to start in Genesis, finish in Revelation, and look at the whole scope of God's plan for working for us a way to be reconciled to a perfect, holy, loving God. But who would predict that the master of the universe would be born in a stable to a teenage virgin betrothed to a humble carpenter of probably the most hated people on the planet living under the dominion of an evil and powerful empire. It's an exciting story, but pretty unpredictable. And so here it is again, we see Jesus with an unpredictable lesson, the training of the shrewd. He tells us a story about this crooked manager who in the process of getting fired is actually praised by his master for some conniving decisions that he's made. How is that supposed to change our lives? What lessons are we here going to learn this morning? But as we begin, let me just share my message in a nutshell. Here's the big takeaway from today's message. Jesus calls us to strategically invest our every resources so that we will have friends in heaven. Jesus calls us to be wise and to think strategically how to use our wealth, how to use all of our resources so that we will ultimately have friends in the kingdom to come. Let's look deeper into the story and get a sense of exactly what's going on. A wealthy landowner gets word his manager is just squandering his possessions, and so he decides to fire him. When the landowner calls him on the carpet, the manager realizes he would be out of work very swiftly. Many of us know what that feels like. It's this terrible situation. And so he's scrambling, how can I not only survive, but how can I thrive after I've been fired from this tremendous job? And so the manager, he's too weak to dig, he's too proud to beg, and he kicks into mental overdrive. And he's beginning to analyze, okay, what are my options? What can I do? And he thinks strategically, what might happen? What might he do in order to prepare for a future that'll be hopefully as comfortable as the one that he's known? And as you remember, the manager comes up with a brilliant scheme. One by one, he calls his master's debtors in to a meeting. They show up not aware of what they're going to hear, but they are invited to some spectacular debt reduction. They don't know exactly what's going on, and theologians have not yet deciphered what the manager is exactly doing. They've come up with three possibilities. One is he's actually continuing to slight his boss. The second, he's removing some very heavy interest rates. And the third is actually, he's just discounting his own personal commission in reducing these debts. Whatever the case, the master praises him for this operation. Today we no longer trade in Roman agricultural measures, but his hearers realized he was talking about some massive debts. The first owed 100 measures of oil. That comes to about three years of a worker's salary, somewhere around perhaps $150,000. To have that bill cut in half was a very helpful discount. The other debtor owes 100 measures of wheat. which was a pricey grain back in those days. His debt was more like eight to 10 years of a worker's salary, somewhere roughly around a half a million dollars. Now, if you have a half a million dollars debt and someone just slices 20%, do the math, that comes out to roughly $100,000. Now, I don't know how you are, but if someone sliced me a deal and just saved me $100,000, I'd be, I'd have a new friend. I think I'd want to kind of, you know, continue this relationship. And so it was a great way to make friends. And that is exactly what his master praises him for. Listen again, verse 8 and 9. The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they will receive you into eternal dwellings." The master praised his manager. because he used his available resources to make friends. He figured how to be so generous that people would invite him into their homes. They would want to be near and have him around. Jesus praises that shrewdness. That word means to be wise, to be crafty, to be intelligent. And so it is that word to use our intellect intentionally, just as this unrighteous manager did. He said, children of this age, they do that all the time. How is it that the children of light haven't learned to do that? And so there's this invitation that Christ is giving us to be wise, to be crafty, to be resourceful. but for a whole different agenda. The people of this world are shrewd, they're crafty. You may know our missionaries, Keith and Lilia Kenyon, lived down in Tampico, Mexico. They've actually had drug wars right in their neighborhood. But when I think of craftiness, you think of the amazing shrewdness that drug barons used to get their wares to market, deep tunnels under the borders, small micro-submarines up the coast, packages through international air, they are thinking how to use any means possible to accomplish their objective. To think of shrewdness more locally, we can think of some of the extreme measures that students go to to cheat on exams, or how people can fudge on their taxes. I think even of guys who want to get that special girl to really like him and the strategic investments that are employed to make those things happen. The reality is that the sons of this age are thinking about how to accomplish their goals and meet their objectives. But their efforts are for earthly benefit, just as that manager was thinking about how he could benefit in his time. Jesus wants for us as sons of light to be shrewd, but think beyond the scope of this world, to think long-term. not with gain that we can have here, but benefit beyond the grave. Imagine, the best investment you can make in this life could potentially help you for maybe up to a hundred years. But an investment in the kingdom of God, the benefits, the returns can go on forever. And so we run those calculations into eternity. and that must influence the way we handle our finances. This is what Jesus is training his disciples to do, to use their resources to invest in making friends that they will enjoy forever. Paul in 2 Corinthians 5.15 puts it this way, And he died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. Living for Christ with our finances, we call biblical stewardship. You see, all of our wealth, be that our time, our talents, or our treasure, now belong to Jesus. So the gifts that you have, the money in your account, your energy, your effort, are all gifts from God that we're to return to Him to bless and to advance the work of His kingdom because now we are children of light. we will live in the Father's house forever. And so we want to operate here in light of that glorious hope. So he says, take some lessons from the playbooks of the people around you, and yet operate in such a way that we have a different win category. The things that we're seeking to win as children of light is to win people into the kingdom of God, to make friends forever. And so we see that this aim is to be central. I had a conversation with Paul Ruby about some of these things. I was dropping by his house and some people came to collect for a major fundraising campaign. And so I asked him what he thought about those kind of things. And Paul, who's now with the Lord, commented, he said, you know, I want to focus my giving on places and people that most everybody else doesn't want to give to. I want to prioritize giving for the kingdom of God. That perspective was so helpful to me because it squares with the Bible. God strongly emphasizes being generous, but especially to believers and for the cause of the gospel. In Matthew chapter 25, when Jesus is talking about feeding the hungry and giving a drink to the thirsty, he comments in verse 40. And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did to me. Jesus underscores caring for his brothers, which highlights not for all people, but particularly for those of the family of God. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul is speaking about taking a collection and praising the churches in Macedonia for their generosity. But that collection was for believers who were suffering a great famine in the churches in Jerusalem. In Galatians 6.10, Paul comments, and let us do good to all men, but especially to those of the household of the faith. And so the fact is, as we have resources, let's be generous everywhere, but as our resources, and when our resources are limited, we need to focus on the people of God and the advance to the kingdom of God. Kevin DeYoung, in his book, What is the Mission of the Church, makes this comment, quote, the alleviation of poverty is simply not the main storyline of the Bible. The biblical narrative is chiefly concerned with how a holy God can dwell with an unholy people. So if our story does not center on Christ, and the story of Christ centered on his death and resurrection from sin, we've gotten the story all out of whack, unquote. This is why Jesus calls us to invest our resources and our lives so that people invite us into eternal dwellings. Last Sunday, we celebrated our BCF annual meeting, and I just want to say thank you to those who were able to participate with us, and I hope the time was as encouraging to you as it was to me. Did you notice how much the BCF family was able to give to World Mission? a striking amount of money. But do you know how that happened? It happened because you and the people sitting around you are very generous and committed to investing in the advance of the Kingdom of God. both locally and around the world. And personally, if that's not your lifestyle, the Lord wants that to change even today. One of the principles of our BCF community is that we highlight the fact that we are a fellowship of ministers, that each one of us are Jesus' servants called to invest our time, our talent, and our treasures for the kingdom of God. to make friends for his house. And because BCF is a fellowship of ministers, a great majority, a great majority of the church's work is done by the saints and not by the paid staff. When there are problems with the building, the deacons and other servants come and see that things are fixed. When we need an update to the internet network, BCF brothers and sisters do things that I have no idea what they're doing, but they get it done and everything works. It's amazing. Just like David mentioned. We have this flower committee, and when we need flowers, they plant a flower garden and raise amazing flowers, and then another committee makes these beautiful decorations. There's so many things we enjoy. We have a library, and everything is so orderly. It's beautiful. You should see my office. But the fact is, the saints are doing the work, and it's happening. because we together are ministers. And one of the reasons we can invest so much in the advance of the gospel is because of our nine elders, six of the elders are self-financing. They underwrite their ministry by their occupations. And not only do they serve day and night to bless the kingdom, but they're giving generously. And so God has given us resources that we can employ in order to have friends in the kingdom to come. That is so exciting. What a joy. And what God is telling us is exactly that. We need to think strategically. How can we use what God has given us in ways that actually change the course of eternity? for the friends around us and the friends at the ends of the earth. I hope you noticed the hundreds of boxes of macaroni and cheese that you walked by as you came in and those numbers continue to increase and multiply. Or the hundreds of boxes that are given for Operation Christmas Child. It could be that when you get to heaven, there's someone right down the street, and they mention, oh yeah, they're here in glory because someone brought a shoebox to their house at Christmastime, and they got the toys, they read those. Then inside there's this little pamphlet that talks about this guy named Jesus. I'd never heard about Jesus before, really, other than maybe a curse word. He loves me. You know, there are missionaries in Iran today. They would never be invited to a Muslim's house, but when they come with your Christmas box, come on in. So glad you're here. Wow, thank you. Talk about shrewd and strategic investment for the kingdom of God. God wants us, just like he is, to be generous and to be thoughtful so that our resources are employed to bless the people around us in such a way it gives eternal fruit. I know a lady in our B-Chef family, and every time a new family moves into the neighbor's, like, she's at their door with a plate of fresh-baked cookies. And now she's got a Bible study in the neighborhood of some of those new neighbors, and she's sharing God's light because of her investment. Another BCFer had a heart, wants to see more of our law enforcement in Christ. And so he's helped to develop an organization that does a lot of things among them, has a big banquet for our local law enforcement officers and their families. He wants to bless them. Now can I ask, do you think he's going to have some friends who wants to hear more about the good news? Please, if you're struggling financially right now, I don't want in any way for you to feel guilty. This is not about a guilt trip, but this is about us learning to be creative with whatever we have in such a way that we're thinking about reaching people with the love of Christ and blessing them in the name of Christ so that their hearts are open to the good news of the gospel. Perhaps you don't have a lot of resources, but you've got some time. And so I'd encourage you, get one of our new BCF directories and use that as a prayer guide and pray for our missionaries and pray for the brothers and sisters of BCF that God gives power, that we can use our resources and share the good news so that men and women, boys and girls come to Christ. You can invite a friend for coffee and pick up the tab. Perhaps you can welcome some friends to your house for a meal and bless them and cultivate that relationship in the love of Christ. The Lord wants us to be free from the enticement of wealth so that we're thinking in light of eternity. I was chatting with a sister in BCF just a couple weeks ago about some of these things, and she said, I need to tell you a story. I love stories. She said, okay, here's a story. I was shopping, and I was in the checkout line, and I noticed the lady in front of me was downcast, and she was gazing off into the distance. It was like a bucket with some flower arrangements, and so this sister just struck up a conversation and said, Lovely flowers, aren't they? They said, yeah, they really are. And she said, which ones do you like? And the lady kind of looked and said, I really like those roses. And the Holy Spirit gave her this little nudge, and she went up and she got that bouquet of roses, went to the lady at the checkout line and said, pardon me, ma'am, if you'd put these on my tab, thank you. And she gave that bouquet of roses to that lady. And that lady smiled, was silent for a moment, and she said, I want you to know, today is my wedding anniversary. My husband passed away 25 years ago, and for 25 years, I haven't received any roses. Thank you for your kindness." Now, do you think that woman would like to hear more about Jesus' love? See, we're to use, you know, our resources here. to bless other people that opens a door for the love of Christ to change their eternity. I'm not sure what God is calling you to do. It could be give resources. It could be that he wants you to be engaged perhaps as a missionary to Taiwan or a church planter in Europe. Maybe he's calling you to serve in an orphanage in Honduras or in India. Could be right now you're a college student and you haven't got two nickels to rub together, but you can get engaged serving with our Boys Brigade or Pioneer Girls or in the high school or our middle school ministries. There are opportunities for you to use your resources. to bless people so that the love of God advances and the family of God grows. That is so exciting. But notice what Jesus says. Do you wonder why he calls money unrighteous wealth? It's not because money is inherently evil, but there's nothing particularly good about money either. Money can be very dangerous, and many people have been ensnared by the pursuit of wealth. And yet it is merely a tool to be used for the glory of God, to be used with eternal perspective. But Jesus is very clear. We can only serve one master. Either you will serve Christ, or you will serve money. but you will not serve both. And so may the Holy Spirit search our hearts in this moment and ask, who am I serving? What is the focus of my affection? Jesus wants to cultivate in us a godly character. He says faithfulness in the little things prepares us for faithfulness in the big things. If you're faithful in those little things, the thing God entrusts to you in this world, he'll be able to entrust far greater things to you, both here and in the kingdom to come. And so we see this life really is a training ground for eternity. It's why we need to be shrewd here, to think, to be wise and strategic so that we will be prepared to be managers in the kingdom to come. You think work finishes here? We're going to be working for the glory of God forevermore, and it will be a thrill. So our responsibility here prepares us for greater things in God's kingdom to come. The master praised his manager because he made a shift in his thinking. Before, while he was pilfering his master's good, the manager was thinking only of worldly pleasure. And yet, the master realized he had shifted. He was now thinking about the future, how today's investment, how today's activities could actually impact things in the days to come. But I wonder if Jesus shares this parable here directly after talking about the prodigal son, because he realizes the gospel is about a bigger change. The Puritan Thomas Chalmers comments in his work, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. He says, quote, We hope by this time you understand the impotency of mere demonstration of this world's insignificance." That is to say, it's not enough for me to show you the vanity of investing in this world compared to the next. Those things are true, but insufficient motivation for us to actually change the course of our lives. The pull of the things of this world is too strong that merely the timescale of eternity would dislodge our hearts' affections for its pursuit of the things of this world. We need something greater. a new motivation that will free our hearts from the dedication to money and what it can bring. There must be a higher affection. That affection comes, as we saw in the parable of the prodigal, that affection comes by experiencing the infinite love of God. When we experience the Father's love, when we experience the power of Jesus' love, when we experience the tender love of the Holy Spirit, it is that powerful love that shifts our hearts. When we realize that from before time began, That we who were lost in our wayward ways, not only have been loved by Christ, but been drawn to him, been won by him. When we consider the wrath of God that Jesus endured on our behalf, and when we experience the tender touch of the Holy Spirit, applying the forgiveness of God to our hearts. And we realize that God's plan is that we will be the bride of Christ in this loving relationship forevermore. It is that love that shifts the affections of our heart so that we can begin to release the pull of the things of this world. When our hearts are captivated by God's love, His unreasonable celebration of us, His glorious future plans, then we want to be faithful. We want to be faithful in the big things. We want to be faithful in the little things because the love of God, Paul says, the love of God controls us. That's his desire for us. And that's what frees us from the love of what money can provide the other things of this world. So do you know that love? Have you experienced a radical freedom from the pull of sin by the overcoming power of a superior affection Has Jesus' love set you free from the love of money and the things that that provides? Are you drinking from a fountain of living water that quenches your deepest thirst in such a way that those things that you once sought for money or for relationships or for success to provide, you now find satisfied in this fountain of living water? that has come to us through the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus simply states the facts. We cannot serve God and wealth when we love Christ. when he is our greatest passion, then the pull of the affections of this world will wane in such a way that we will choose to be faithful to him, to invest our time, our treasure, our talents, all that we have for his glory, and so that we may have more friends when we get to the kingdom of heaven. May God use his word, and may he make us shrewd for his glory and for the advance of his kingdom. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for your love. We're grateful for Jesus' frank teaching about the things that can so easily trip us up. And we praise you that his love changes everything. Amazing grace. Thank you. for the sacrifice of Christ. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that convicts us, that changes us, that empowers us to live to the praise of your glory and help us, Lord, help us learn to think. How can we use our resources to bless those around us and those to the ends of the earth? So we have a joy of having more brothers and sisters with us in the kingdom to come. And this, we pray with thanksgiving. In Jesus' name, amen.