Becoming a Shrewd Steward

Here with the sermon message. The title that I have for us today is Becoming a Shrewd Steward.

Did you hear the one about a rich man boss who one day discovered that his employee was cooking the books?

Now, that's not exactly how Jesus Christ began, but it's pretty close. So, we want to turn to this moment in Scripture in which Jesus now will tell us about this story. If you have your Bibles, let's open them up together and turn to Luke 16. And we're going to read verses 1 through 8. Luke 16 verses 1 through 8. Jesus, of course, masterful in the way in which he tells stories. And we've been going through our series in the Gospel of Luke. And it is just amazing to see how Jesus opens up truth to us and to his listeners with these wonderful stories. And this story that we come to involves a rich man and his steward or his employee, his manager, or an accountant here. So, let's read this together. Luke is recording Jesus speaking here. Luke 16. Let's begin in verse 1.

Luke records Jesus here. And he, Jesus, also said to his disciples, here it is, there was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So the rich man called him the steward, his employee, and said to him, What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig, and I'm ashamed to beg. I've resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, that they may receive me into their houses. And they are those others that he would deal with in doing business for his boss.

Verse 5, So the steward called every one of his masters deader to him. And the steward said to the first, How much do you owe my master? And he said, A hundred measures of all. So the steward said to the client, Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty. So instead of a hundred, he said, write fifty. Then he said to another, we could say another client of the master, How much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And the steward said to him, Take your bill and write eighty.

So, after all that's been done, so the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

Let's stop there. Wonderful, certainly complex little story I'm sure you can acknowledge. And what we find here with this story is that when we come to these parables and we come to the teachings of Jesus Christ, time and time again what you'll find is that the Bible has much to say about the use and or the abuse of wealth. We could say the Bible has much to say about the use or the abuse of resources. So the resources that we have, the Bible comments much and many times on how we're using those resources. And we notice that there's actually two stories here in chapter 16. The one we just read that begins in verse 1, a rich man had a steward. Now next time we're going to get to another rich man, that rich man's story begins in verse 19.

Where you have a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen and lived sumptuously every day. So here we have a story, this first story of a rich man. It's kind of a once upon a time stories here. I find these so engaging. Just to remind ourselves, a parable like this one, if we were going to give it a definition, a parable is simply an earthly story that has a heavenly meaning.

So these parables, they're stories that play out on the horizontal. It plays out on earth, but innately these parables are to have a a vertical or a heavenly or a kingdom context to them. And they're to teach us a spiritual lesson. And that's the reason why they're given to us. And I always wondered when you come to a parable like this, was this a story that actually Jesus saw played out on earth?

You know, when you read the Gospel account, you really have Jesus's story going, giving us the narrative from birth to teenage years. And he's in a temple, and he's teaching some of the temple leaders at an age of teenage, a teenager. But then from that time to the time he starts his ministry, there's really a lot of silence. The Bible doesn't speak much about that period of time of Jesus's life. So I always thought that might be at the time in which he just sat back. And as he lived his life, he was and as he lived his life, he observed human nature, if you will. And he was always walking and observing these things.

And so I wonder if perhaps he saw this story of the unjust steward with this rich boss. I wonder if he perhaps made note of it, and he could use these actual stories as teaching moments, you know, for later on when he began his ministry. It's just interesting to think about that possibility there. Now, you can imagine the day for this steward started out like any other. Perhaps this morning, back then, he had breakfast with his wife, had a good cup of coffee, I'm sure. I don't know if they drank coffee back then. And his wife asked him, what do you have going on today?

And he said, well, you know, pretty normal day, but I'm actually meeting with the old rich man, you know, the old rich boss. Oh, you are? Well, what's happening there? Well, you know, honey, don't worry about it too much. I don't think it's that big of a deal. There has been an accusation that has been raised about my dealings with the boss's resources, but you know, it's not going to be a big deal.

Don't worry about it too much, you know. And then, by the time you get to dinner, well, it was quite a different story, I'm sure, when he enters the house, long face, you know, and he goes on to tell his wife about how he's been removed from his responsibilities. You know, he is no longer in his stewardship position for this boss.

He's been given the pink slip, if you will. And the interaction between the steward and his boss is really quite quick. It's a very punchy story. It just gets right to the point.

He's fired very quickly, we see. If you've been on the end of being fired, or if you've had, like I have, had the horrible opportunity to fire someone, it is actually best just to get it done with. I can remember back in my business years, prior to being a pastor, I was given the responsibility to lay off the fire, a whole group, a whole team of individuals. It was horrible. And I can remember, as they were coming in, the first couple that I had to fire, essentially, I was going into this long soliloquy kind of and talking about, and it's going to be okay.

And after a few, my boss came and said, Jay, you just got to get it done with. You know, rip that band-aid off, give them their box, get them on the elevator as soon as possible, you know, make it quick. They don't want, you know, this long explanation. And I actually found that to be true. And if you've ever been on the firing, being fired end of it, it absolutely is true.

Stop talking, let me just get out of here, you know. And that's kind of what happens here. Very, very quick, the rich man gets it over with.

Now, what we could say in looking at this story also very quick was the steward's response to it.

Here, he didn't waste any time with his response plan. And here in verse three and four of the narrative, you have the steward talking to himself here, though he's talking within himself, rubbing his chin, you know. Okay, what do I do? I don't want to dig. I don't know if he thought that was below himself or maybe he wasn't too strong of a man. I'm not sure. I'm not going to lower myself to beg, he says. And I'm no longer welcome in my master's business, he says. But perhaps there's a way I could still be welcomed into the homes of his customers or his clients. There at the end of verse four, he's coming up with a plan, and it's coming to fruition, a way in which, end of verse four, the people that he's been dealing with on behalf of his master, how could there be a way in which I can still be welcomed into their homes, he says? I know, I'll come up with a plan here. And this is where we discover that this steward is very clever. He's very shrewd. Being shrewd just means you have the ability to take advantage of opportunities. Okay, very strategic in your thinking. And when you begin to look at this time, and when you begin to look at his plan, and you have to sketch in a little bit of the background here, you actually realize this was a very shrewd plan that the steward came up with. And when you know a little bit about the background, you realize back at that time, there were actually laws put in place for some of these commercial practices. And what you would find is someone like the rich man, the boss here, to get around some of these laws, they would have to express certain illegal practices. One of the laws that were in place back at this time said that if you were going to loan a fellow Jew money, one of your fellow people's money, you could not charge them interest.

Okay, there was a law that forbade someone like the rich man from charging interest in loaning to his clients. So, no doubt what someone like this rich man would do, and other business people like this, they would find a way to work around it. The law was forbidden, it was called usury.

And a way to get around it, a way to circumvent this law, is to just change the note that was owed and just increase it right from the get-go. Immediately, the business man would go into scheming mode, and they would build into the bill the interest without showing it. So, if they loan someone 80 measures of wheat, and it was 80, they would just make the note for 100, and not show the interest, though, in the transaction. And so, as you read this story, you realize what a smart man this steward was, because he's about to turn the tables on his boss, the rich man, and in a way to reveal the rich man's bosses' unlawful practices. So, verse 5, the steward, the fired steward, calls the clients to himself, his master's clients, and he says, how much do you owe my master? There in verse 5. Well, I owe him 100 measures of all. Well, the steward says, it's not actually 100. I want you to tear up that bill and write down 50, he says. And, of course, the client would be like, oh, that sounds good to me.

The principal amount was only 50, you see. Then, same with the wheat in verse 7. How much do you owe my master 100 measures of wheat? Well, no, he's increased that. I want you to tear that up and write 80, he says. And, as a result, the debtors, the clients, would have been ingratiated to the steward, right? Because the steward is saving them some money by exposing his rich boss's unlawful practices. And it's also shrewd because his boss is still going to get the principal amount that was owed to him, right? But the rich man cannot say anything about this because if he does, he's going to reveal himself in the dirty practices, you see. But the shrewd steward, in the end, though, will no doubt be welcomed into the houses of these individuals here. So what a shrewd, what a clever, what a strategic, what a skill to look and take advantage of an opportunity here that this steward is. And so verse 8, verse 8, the master says to the steward, whew, I gotta commend you. You know, you can almost see him sitting back in his chair, you know, rubbing his chin saying, oh, you, yep, you got me, you got me. What a, what a shrewd steward, what a crafty steward you are.

And you know, this is the coolest thing about these stories, you know, this is so many years ago. This is in an agricultural setting. Many times, they're so foreign from us.

But here in the 21st century, we get it, right? We get it. We're reading this story about grain and oil. But, but this is so universal here. We, we so can understand this. This on his, quick on his feet steward here, showing him as self as a shrewd business steward. And again, in the end, the master, verse eight, commends the unjust steward because he acted shrewdly. Now, that's the end of the story. And if I failed to say this later, I just want to say it now. Neither of these two characters in this story represent anything good. All right? Not neither of these two characters represent Jesus, for example. You know, sometimes Jesus does place himself in these parables, like the the sower, you know, sowing the seed that that represents symbolizes Jesus Christ. Not in this story. These are just simply two earthly men, neither godly men, you see, in this way. And that's how it ends. Now, the, the disciples who were listening to this, they would have been all the years at this point. The master storyteller, Jesus Christ, I'm sure they're looking at one another saying, well, where is this going? Where is this story going? They can never, you know, all of Jesus's stories, they can never say, oh, I know where this is going. Jesus always had a surprise at the end. You know, he always had a the ability to kind of have a twist at the end, hear a surprise. And I don't know, in one sense, this parable, it kind of seems all wrong, right? It's very perplexing. You have the unjust steward who didn't do good practices for his rich boss being commended by a rich man who also was unsavory in his business dealings here. So what is this all about? You know, what does this story mean? Well, perhaps some of you astute people are ahead of me on this, but the punch line comes to us in the second half of verse 8. So let's just read this again, verse 8 again, where Jesus observes here, the master, verse 8, commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. Now listen to this, for the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. Very interesting. That is the point of this whole parable. The sons of this world are more shrewd, clever, strategic, taking advantage of opportunity, taking advantage of resources. The sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. That's the point.

In other words, the people, the men and women of this world, who are just solely earthbound in their thinking. They don't have a relationship with God. They're just business-minded. They're just looking to make a buck, looking to increase their earthly wealth. The sons of this world seemingly are more shrewd when it comes to getting returns with their resources far more shrewd than the sons of light.

The sons of this world, not godly men or women, are more effective in accomplishing their business goals than the sons of God in accomplishing their business goals.

Let that sink in a little bit. The sons of this world, the daughters of this world, they're much more effective with their resources in getting the business result than the sons of light, the sons of God, the daughters of God, are in accomplishing their business goals, if you will. Now, you're going to hear me say, during this message, terms like God's business, or the business of the kingdom.

Typically, we don't use that kind of terminology. When we're talking about God's plans and purposes, we get that. God's church and God's plans and purposes are not a business, as we define business here on earth. There is a connection with this parable. We want to rest in this parable and use some of those terms, use some of that context as we go through this and apply it to our spiritual business that we have for God. As we think about this, we could ask, what business is God in? If we are stewards and we're to be shrewd stewards for God, what business is God in, could we say? Again, I'm using the word business loosely. You understand. Well, I think we could all agree that God is in the business, as stated by Jesus, of bringing many men and women to glory. That's the business of God, we could say, if you will. The overarching purpose of God, what God's in business for, on the strength of Scripture, God's overarching business plan, is to expand His family by bringing many sons and daughters to glory.

But, unfortunately, what Jesus is indicating here is that earthly business stewards are much more shrewd in their business practices, much better at getting good returns from their resources, much better than heavenly business stewards are in getting returns from their resources. Very complex, very interesting concept that we come into today.

In preparing this message, and I've read about this man in the past, when you know we're thinking about this sometimes inner desire and zest to grow an earthly business, right, compared to the inner desire and zeal to grow God's business here on earth by God's children. You know, we're thinking about this juxtaposition between the two. When you think about this, I wanted to bring just some of that vision that some of these earthly business stewards have. And one such pretty successful earthly steward is a man by the name of Howard Schultz. How many of you know Howard Schultz? Okay, well, he had the vision of establishing a business and getting off the ground a business by the name of Starbucks, okay? And in his zeal and just this inner inspiration, this vision he had, you begin to read a little bit about his story and some of his thoughts in beginning this earthly business to be a shrewd steward of this business. He spoke and said this, he wanted one day for all to refer to coffee just as simply as Starbucks, right? That was his vision. And as autobiography goes on to say, he wanted men and women in Chicago to be walking down the streets and to be identified by that symbol on the Starbucks coffee cup there. That was his vision. So he went out and he was looking for investors and he was having difficulty finding investors until one day an adventurous quote, an adventurous physician gave him a hundred thousand dollars in a moment of passion. So he had been able to inspire this rich man to invest in his vision, gave him a hundred thousand dollars. And after the initial public offering on Wall Street, that hundred thousand dollars returned immediately in the amount of a hundred million. Excuse me, ten million, ten million. So a hundred thousand dollars into ten million. Amazing. And he had this deep guttural desire for this business and for coffee where he even said, quote, quote, we had a mission to educate consumers everywhere about fine coffee. And we had a vision to create an atmosphere in our stores that drew people with a sense of wonder and romance in the midst of their harried lives, unquote. And so Jesus here sits back and he observes, wow, wow. You know, the sons of this world, they're much more shrewd in their business practice than even the sons of light. That's an amazing thought. You have this man getting just eat, lives, and breathes coffee, right?

And think of the returns. Think of the strategy he used to then produce to bring to life his vision.

So Jesus says, you know, God's people have a tendency not to be shrewd stewards for the plans and purposes of God, to bring many sons and daughters to glory. That's God's purpose. Many are called. Many are called. Few chosen. Where are we in that picture as shrewd stewards to help God bring many to glory? And here in this parable, going back to the parable, verse 9, this is the point. This is an earthly story to bring us to a spiritual vision. There in verse 9, you know, Jesus remarks here, verse 9, I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that's money, that when you fail, when the mammon fails, when the money runs out, that they might receive you into an everlasting home. So this shrewd, unjust steward was trying to be welcomed into earthly homes, earthly living rooms. Well, Jesus says, where's our zest and zeal? So that we're talking about an everlasting home here. This is the point of the story. And I want to broaden our understanding beyond just money or mammon. You know, some of us have been blessed in this lifetime with unrighteous mammon, if you will, you know, money. And we are to use that money through offerings, through tithes, to look for opportunities to help those who haven't been as blessed, use that money as a means to preach the gospel, absolutely.

But I want to expand your vision today, even if you don't have those kind of resources, you absolutely have even more powerful resources in possessing the very Spirit of God in you. You have unlimited resources through the power of God in you. How are you using those resources? How are you using them? Is the overarching question today. Are you a shrewd steward of the resources God's given you in doing His work, the work of God?

So, I really want us to move today, as we look at this new year coming up, a new calendar year, as the world counts it, and be thinking about, you know, I want to put together a business plan, if you will, a spiritual business plan, so that I can use whatever resources I've been given in a shrewd way, in a clever way, in a strategic way, and be shrewd for God, a shrewd steward for God. And when you begin to think about, quote, your business plan for God, again, I'm using that term loosely, we understand, one of the places that you immediately can go to is the moment in Scripture where business was booming, all right, where God's business was booming. And of course, that's found right at the moment when God's Spirit was given in the Book of Acts, and boy, the church was booming. So, I just want to take you there and to reveal some of these shrewd stewards at the time in which in which business, heavenly business, was booming. We can turn there now if you'd like. It's Acts chapter 2. Turn to Acts chapter 2. Here we find Acts chapter 2 verses 46 and 47. We find that God's business of bringing many sons and daughters to glory was in full force here, and it was being carried out by many shrewd men and women stewards. Acts 2 verse 46 through 47. Here they were, these little stewards going out, empowered by the Spirit. So, continuing daily, Acts 2 verse 46, daily, daily, with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And here it is, the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. So, let's stop there. So, these are the early stewards, if you will, learning, sharing, worshiping, house to house here, daily, fulfilling God's plans and purposes here. And they experienced incredible growth, incredible growth. In fact, go back one chapter to Acts 1 verse 15, if you will. Acts 1 verse 15.

Here we discover, revealed to us here, it began with, what does it say, 120 called believers. So, 120 initially added to God's family, gathering for prayer, it says. Okay, just a few days later, go back to Acts 2 verse 41, if you will. Acts 2 verse 41.

Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost. By the time you get to Acts 2 verse 41, it had gone up to 3,000. 3,000 added to the family of God, being saved, as it says. Tremendous growth in the community. Great profit, great returns from the resources of these stewards.

Then, when you get to Acts chapter 4, verse 4, go forward one chapter again. Acts 4 verse 4, Luke records here. Acts 4 verse 4. But many who heard the word believed, who'd they hear it from? Well, all these stewards. And the number of men came to about 5,000. So 123,000, 5,000. And then Acts 5 verse 14. Acts 5 verse 14. And believers, Acts 5 verse 14, were increasingly added to the Lord. Multitudes! He doesn't even put a number on it. So this is an explosion, an absolute explosion of the church. God's purposes of bringing many sons and daughters to glory. God's shrewd stewards bringing about business returns in remarkable numbers here. Church business, if you will, was growing beyond all expectations.

Those analyzing these business returns would have been blown away, you know?

Remarkable! And I think we could see these men and women employed as sons and daughters of the light were being greatly used, and they were being shrewd managers of God. And this is what we are called to be today. Absolutely shrewd stewards for God today. And this is what we're considering, and I want you to be inspired to create a plan for yourselves.

And as you think about this, and as we go into the new year, as you begin to build your good steward, a shrewd steward plan, I want to give you two truths to ground your plan on. These are just a few foundational truths to make sure we're not careless in our consideration of these things. Make sure that we are shrewd, we are strategic in our thinking. One of the first truths to acknowledge in as you're developing your strategic plan, first and foremost, it goes without saying, but we don't want to be careless. We want to say it today. It is to acknowledge who is actually adding sons and daughters to God's church. All right? Who is responsible for the business returns? Who is ultimately responsible for the business returns? I won't have you say it collectively, but I think we all know it is God the Father through Jesus Christ. We know that. We know that we know that, right? Who adds to the church today? How are these people ultimately added? It's as a result of God calling, opening eyes and ears, drawing men and women to himself through his Son, the head of the church, the one who gives this parable, Jesus Christ himself. This is an important truth. When we start to delve into and mix some of these metaphors of business with God's gospel, you have to know and know that you know, earthly speaking, there is no press button A earthly and get B results, right? Now, it doesn't work that way where the church can just grow itself. You know, somehow erroneously think in error that we're doing it ourselves somehow. You know, without you know, without God's power. You will hear some of these things in some of the churches out there. If we just employ this earthly methodology, you know, if we just put the earthly mechanisms in place, then we're going to have this exponential growth, right? And people are going to be coming through the doors, kind of like selling Amway or something, you know? No, no, not at all.

We can't use any methodologies with that kind of thinking at all.

Lives transformed by the gospel, individuals being saved, come as a result of God drawing them to Himself through the Son. And that's why we don't keep an eye on numbers, right? And how the church is growing. But it's not an indication of the work of the Spirit of God. Simple, you know, looking at the numbers. Not at all. We can't use number growth as a quantifier of the effectiveness of stewarding God's business, right? You can't use numbers as a quantifier there.

It's to fully acknowledge that no matter the cleverness of our strategies, we're nothing, nothing without being empowered by the Spirit of God. Just to stamp that fact, I'd like to turn you over to 1 Corinthians 3 verse 5. Just to emphasize this first truth, as we're sitting down, making our shrewd steward plan for God. 1 Corinthians 3 verses 5 through 8 help us acknowledge that it is God who gives the increase.

This just stamps this number one truth. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 5, the apostle Paul acknowledges, who then is Paul? So he acknowledges himself as a worker, but he says, who am I? And who is Apollos, his fellow worker? But ministers, through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one. So yes, they're ministers, they're doing a ministry, but the Lord gave them any men and women to themselves to minister. Verse 6, I planted, Paul says, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

Verse 7, so neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters is anything, but God who gives the increase. All right, so let's just stop there for a moment. So that is this truth punctuated to the highest level. All right, we as God's shrewd stewards are going to water, we're going to plant, but we're nothing. We are nothing in this process without God. God has just given us the opportunity to participate in His plan to bring many sons and daughters to glory right here. So God gets the ultimate credit for any business profit.

If we want to say it that way.

Now, though, we've stated that clearly, I hope. This brings us to the second truth, which is just as important, and that is revealed in verse 8. So staying here in 1 Corinthians 3, let's continue to read verse 8 here, where he says, Paul says, he almost pauses and gives this our second truth to acknowledge today. Verse 8, his or her own reward according to his or her own labor. Labor. So you'll notice it doesn't say that we as God's stewards are going to be rewarded by the results. You know, how many people we help bring to God that are called? Now, why wouldn't we be rewarded for those kind of results?

Well, God gives the increase, right? We don't. So if we're not rewarded for results, those kind of results, what Paul is saying is we are absolutely rewarded by our labor. So we're rewarded and held accountable with how we're going to use our resources here as shrewd stewards for God. And God is looking for smart, strategic stewards to take their resources and put it to labor. Put it to labor. Get out there. Go to work. Be strategic. Be clever. Be just as visionary and have it burning in your gut as someone who's dealing in coffee, you see. At least that. Boy, we as sons and daughters of the light should blow any kind of earthly zeal out of the water with our business that we're doing for God, you see. That's the point. That's the point. We're held accountable for our own labor. So a shrewd steward plants and waters and puts forth the labor each and every day. This is the business of the church. God does the adding. We don't know who he's calling. So it doesn't matter who he's calling. We're just laboring. Everyone, every opportunity we have, we're putting all of our zeal into in a strategic way.

Going back to Acts 2 verses 46 and 47, back to when business was booming, the heavenly business was booming, Acts 2 verses 46 and 47, we see that there's incredible strategy here that we can use for today's strategic plan that we want to come up with individually and as a church. Look at Acts 2 and beginning in verse 46 again. This is what we read earlier. You see, at the end of verse 47, added to the church were those being saved daily here. So look at this, verse 46. These are the shrewd stewards. What were they doing? Verse 46, they were continuing daily. So you can't take a day off, right? Daily? So when you're coming up with your shrewd steward plan, it needs to be daily, daily, praying to God. Bring in my path. Help me acknowledge someone that I can bring to you today. Daily, daily, daily. Don't ever take a day off for God. That's a good start in developing your plan. Also, continuing daily with one accord. One accord in the temple. What does this tell us today in our strategic plan? Well, we have to be one accord here.

If we are divided in our stewardship for God, we're not going to be effective. So in your steward plan, you are writing down what are some relationships that I need to shore up? What are some relationships with my fellow stewards? Do I need to heal? Did I need to make stronger because I want to be ineffective? And I see here in the early church when business was booming, they were one accord. One accord. Very important in our strategic plan. And they're breaking bread. It continues here. House to house. What should be in your plan? Eating with one another and eating with others that aren't even part of our fellowship. To shine a light. To set an example. To give a word of encouragement. To lead them to God if God so calls them. That's why we have potluck every Sabbath. You know, it helps us become one accord. And it's why when those are suffering, if we're able to, you can go house to house and visit them. If you're unable to go house to house, pick up a phone and call them. Go house to house in that way, you know, if you're limited in getting around. And they ate their food with gladness. So part of your strategy and your shrewd steward plan, be glad. God's people, of all people, no matter the trial we're going through, should not be gloomy. All right? We shouldn't have long faces. I know sometimes we have long faces and are gloomy. Yes, there are some physical trials that we're going through and financial trials and family trials. Yes, but during those times, I want you to... a shrewd steward of God will grab on to the joy of salvation. If you can't grab on to any other joy, grab on to the joy of salvation. You know that salvation is coming, and that alone should give us smiles and be glad and cheerful people. We should be a cheerful people. Be attractive. No one's really attracted to someone who's always gloomy. Right? So we can be more attractive to people if we're glad people. Simplicity of heart, keep it simple. God's gospel is simple. Right? You don't have to be a biblical scholar to be a shrewd steward. Not at all. Praising God, having favor with all people, all people, so that it goes beyond our fellowship here.

There, let's just start to your plan. And, God willing, if it's God's so desire, He will add daily those who are being saved through the work of a shrewd steward.

So it is really quite remarkable to acknowledge what Jesus Christ is seeing here. Yes, God gives increase, no doubt, but God has given us the wonderful opportunity to use us in the very plans and purposes of bringing about salvation to the entire world. I have people ask me all the time, not all the time, but occasionally, they'll call me. My phone number is on the website, and they'll say, what is your church doing? As far as evangelizing, you know, they'll say, what kind of work are you all doing, you know, at a broader scale? And I'll tell them, you know, our home office is doing really well. You know, we've got this media department that's putting out great content and video and magazine and website and great strategy there from the home office. But I got to tell you, I'll tell them, what I'm most excited about. And the area that we're most doing our greatest work, I believe, is through our little shrewd stewards. Well, you're not little, but all of our shrewd stewards going out into the community and worshiping together.

Oh, they say, well, tell me more about that. Well, they're going out, and they're going to people, they're engaging people in conversation, they're coming to those in need, they're sharing with people called men and women, faithful stewards of God, brothers and sisters, doing the work, and they're being smart in all that they do. And they're motivated by the incredible opportunity to even be a steward of God. Look over at 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14. If you needed any kind of motivation, here it is, to go out and execute an effective plan for God.

We know that what empowers us to go out and to be persuasive with God's Word, it is propelled by just the opportunity to even be here. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14. We read, we are shrewd stewards for Christ, verse 20. As though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God.

So let's just stop there. As we go out, it's as if the love of Christ brings us to Him, and Christ Himself is appealing His Word through us here. So I want you to just consider that incredible truth as you go out in the business of God in this way and become laborers for Christ. God needs laborers in this way.

As we move to a conclusion, I want to turn just to one final scripture as we consider all that we've studied today through this wonderful little parable. Turn it over to Matthew 9 verse 35 through 38. Matthew 9 verse 35 through 38.

We need laborers. This is what Jesus Christ is going to put forth here.

We need laborers for this work that God's doing here on earth. So as we begin to conclude with those incredible words, I want this to spur you today as you consider what Jesus Christ is speaking to us today. Matthew 9. Let's read verses 35 through 38.

Matthew 9 verse 35 through 38. Then Jesus went about in the cities, in the villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every sickness, every disease among the people. Verse 36. Now listen to this. But when he Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Let's stop there. So I hope you understand this.

The laborers are few, he says. They're scattered. Pray that the Lord of the harvest send out laborers into his harvest. And that's our prayer today. That you would be these laborers, these shrewd stewards going out for God through Jesus Christ.

Take your life, your capacity, your ability, your genius, your drive, your initiative, your skill, your talent, your giftedness, and bring it to these verses. Bring it to this parable. Pray that God would make you an effective laborer today. Then go out with boldness.

Go out to those that you have an influence with. Stir those individuals. Let them see God through you. And may I just conclude in this way. As we read these words, may we step up. How can we be more shrewd than even the sons of this world? Let it not be said of us that they're more shrewd than us. May we have this vision. You have a job to fulfill. May we step up to this role as being effective and shrewd stewards of God.