The Shrewd Manager isn’t one of Jesus’ more well known parables. I think this is for a few reasons. The character in Luke 16 (also known as the unjust steward) is not one that we like. He’s about to lose his job because he is dishonest. To compound the matter the “positive” example that Jesus gives when push comes to shove is that the man DOUBLES DOWN on his dishonesty! The point of the parable isn’t that we should be dishonest. The point is that the gallons of oil, the bags of wheat, the money, the stuff isn’t ours. We might like to think that it is, but it’s not. The reason the shrewd manager has no problem giving away his master’s items is because… it’s not his.
Nothing that we own truly belongs to us. As stewards we are to take care of the people, places, and things that God has entrusted to us, but they aren’t really ours. That means we can be generous with everything – just like the shrewd manager. In fact Jesus tells us to take a few notes and leverage the possessions that he has given us for the sake of the kingdom.
This week’s study also made up the final week of our stewardship focus, One in Christ. We spent some time during this series looking at our family, our friends, and our finances. We focused on the important relationship between husbands and wives and how we can leverage our friendships for the kingdom. This week we talked money. For the Christian giving is a priority, proportional, and personal. Want to hear more? Watch this week’s Bible class from our series, Parabolic: The Shrewd Manager.
Please click HERE for the offering planning sheet.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.
Please click HERE for the other lessons from our series Parabolic – A Study of Divine Stories.