Sermon prepared by the Holy Spirit

And Pastor Andrew T. Okai

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 18^th 2016

Sermon text: Luke 16:1-15

Sermon theme: Managers Over The Master’s Mission

Introduction

Grace, mercy, and peace...

In today's reading God reminds that we are created for his pleasure, and with purpose, (We human beings cannot be compared to any other thing or creature...)

Pleasure meaning – created in his image and likeness - and God saw that it was good...

With purpose meaning – created for a reason… for responsible reasons...

This is why no other creature in our world is required to function like us... (God gave us laws not the animals) E.G. Cain

God’s response back to Cain was this: no, no, you are responsible to manage over my creation...

God even made that more explicit by creating man last not first (Well somebody says it doesn’t make sense that man was created last, if we were created to manage, then we should have arrived before everything else...

Reason:

If man had been present at creation, he would have thought that he and God own this...

God uses the approach of a businessman – this is my business, I created you to work for me...

Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

So, as offspring of Adam, we are all managers of God’s creation...

So you may be asking the question of what am I managing? I’m not living in the Garden of Eden...

You have your garden – wherever you are is your garden...

What’s in your garden? God, Your life, your immediate family, your calling, trust, etc.

So in the gospel reading today, Jesus uses the parable of a dishonest manager who is about to be fired for wasting his master’s possession Luke 16:1.

What I want us to be reminded of is this; every time Jesus gives a parable, there is always a lesson in it for the listeners/hearers – he is driving a point across...

In this parable the master is a picture of God and the manager is a picture of man... (We Are Managers Over The Master’s Mission)

So here are a few principles to pull from this parable as we manage

The timeliness in the parable

Luke 16:3 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—

1^st message - God controls all that we are and all that we have...

2nd message - is that this manager is thinking about his future as he realizes that he is about to lose his source of living...

-       He’s working with the time left to store up for the future...

3^rd message - Time is running out folks…

The negligence in the parable

Luke 16:4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.

The manager realizes that his job description was of two-fold

-       To the master

-       To the people

The manager failed his master and the people (He been taking care of himself)

John 6:63a The flesh counts for nothing

The manager invests in people - a kingdom’s concept - investing in people…

Why people? Matthew 25:34 then the king will say to those on his right, com, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

35: for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

V.37 then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

V.40 the king will reply, truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

We find this emphasis even in our O.T. reading this morning where God is rebuking Israel for neglecting the poor as the rich got richer...

The moral of the parable

Luke 16:9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

1. Be a channel of blessing

God’s mission in our individual callings...