Gospel Shrewdness – Luke 16:1–13 (July 26, 2026)

If you have a Bible with you, I'd love for you to open it up to the Gospel of Luke.

This summer we've sort of been making our way through parts of Luke.

We've been looking at the stories of Jesus.

What we often call parables, these little tales that Jesus tells that are very normal, everyday tales, but are packed with spiritual truth.

And this morning we're going to look at maybe at a parable that's a little bit more unfamiliar.

The parable of the unrighteous manager or the unjust steward.

So if you don't have a Bible with you, you can find the passage in your bulletin, but the passage is Luke 16, and we're going to look at the first 13 verses together.

But I want to begin by describing something that is getting ready to happen in the lives of 40 million Americans.

And for at in fact, and for the most ardent among them, it's actually already begun.

Not officially, not on paper, but in their minds, in their thinking.

You probably know a little bit of what it feels like in those off moments of work or when things quiet down, you begin to have your mind drift to ideas and plans and memories, strategies.

See, these 40 million Americans are getting ready to build something.

Something carefully orchestrated, something that must last, that's prepared for hardships, for unforeseen dangers, and even for dry times.

It's something that needs to compete.

Something that needs to prove itself, that needs to perform consistently, but especially when it matters most.

And the plannings will be intense.

There's going to be weeks of reading articles, listening to experts, talking with friends.

There's going to be a significant amount of real-time observation and even interpretation.

And it's paramount that everyone, this one, is prepared for every scenario, both the predictable and the ridiculous.

They need to be always ready to act at a moment's notice.

See, a single move can ruin the whole endeavor.

See, to build this thing is going to require hours of work.

There'll be a decent amount of heartache, and there will need to be a prevailing hope.

Of course, I'm talking about fantasy football.

Friends, let me be clear from the outset.

I love fantasy football.

It's fun, it's communal, it's great, hobby, but it's also silly.

And I think that's actually part of the idea.

I mean, that's part of the fun.

And yet, as I was thinking about the parable that we're going to look at from Jesus this morning, I just couldn't get out of my mind how much we need to hear it.

We think so strategically.

We plan, we prepare, we study, we strategize, we consider every option, look into every single gap.

We use all of the wisdom at our disposal for so many things in this life.

Maybe it's not fantasy football for you.

But maybe it's a big purchase from Amazon.

Or maybe it's a home renovation project.

Maybe it's an outfit for an upcoming event.

Maybe it's a new vehicle you're looking to purchase, or maybe it's a child's college fund that you're hoping to begin to build up.

Or maybe it's retirement.

See, we may not know the word, but we're very familiar with what Jesus calls shrewdness.

See, to be shrewd is to be perceptive, insightful, discerning.

It's to be wisely strategic.

And the truth is, every single one of us seeks to develop and employ shrewdness in so many areas of our life.

Except maybe one.

We've largely relegated shrewdness to the things of this world, to the temporary.

As Christians, we are rarely, what Jesus describes in Matthew 10, shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

And if we are shrewd, it's hardly ever in matters of the gospel or in spiritual things.

See, here's the sad reality.

I think many of us think harder, strategize more, and are even more shrewd in things like fantasy football than we are in the things of God's kingdom.

See, church, we desperately need gospel shrewdness.

I think some of us are actually in danger of being as dumb as doves and as evil as serpents.

The exact opposite of what Jesus calls for.

But we need to be shrewd.

And maybe especially in our day.

We live in a day with AI, with rampant political division, rising inflation.

In some ways, we feel like social intelligence has been almost wrecked.

So the few of us know how to even relate to other people.

We have abounding distractions.

We have a growing distrust in experts or leaders.

We have the prevalence of false teaching and false news.

We need wisdom more than ever.

We need to be shrewd.

Which means we need this parable of Jesus.

Might be the most unusual one that he tells, but it is also the one in which its main point might be the most clear.

Here's our main idea this morning.

Jesus calls us to be most shrewd for what matters most.

Jesus calls us to be most shrewd for what matters most.

Let's look at the parable that Jesus tells.

We're just going to look at the first seven and a half verses verses.

Here's what it says.

Now Jesus said to his disciples, There was a rich man who received an accusation against that his manager was squandering his possessions.

So he called the manager in and asked, What is this I hear about you?

Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.

Then the manager said to himself, What will I do since my master is taking the management from me?

I'm not strong enough to dig.

I'm ashamed to beg.

I know what I'll do, so that when I'm removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.

So he summoned each one of his master's debtors.

How much do you owe my master?

He asked the first one.

A hundred measures of olive oil, he said.

Take your invoice, he told him.

Sit down quickly and write fifty.

Next he asked another, How much do you owe?

A hundred measures of wheat, he said.

Take your invoice, he told him, and write eighty.

The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly.

We're gonna look at three things this morning: the parable, the point, and the practice.

First, we're gonna look at the parable.

Now, we've noted again and again this summer that really the primary way in so many of these parables that Jesus gets across his message is with shock.

And that's true in our parable this morning.

But I think what's interesting in our parable this morning is that this might be the first time that this actually shocks us.

That we might be just as startled and surprised as Jesus' first hearers.

Are you a little bit shocked by this?

Isn't there a part of you that says, well, Jesus, he can't be praising this unrighteous manager?

Like he can't be applauding such dishonesty and fraud.

Now, before we draw conclusions, let's make sure we understand the parable.

See, Jesus begins in verse one, look at it, with there was a rich man, which might be as prevalent for Jesus as once upon a time is for Disney.

So many parables seem to begin with, there was a rich man.

But the rich man is not the focus of this parable.

Not like the father in the parable that just precedes it.

That's a helpful reminder.

If you have a Bible open, look back to the end of chapter 15.

The parable that immediately precedes this is the parable of the prodigal son.

Maybe one of the most well-known parables that we've already looked at, the parable of the gracious father.

And what we're gonna see is that these two parables share a whole lot of similarities.

And yet the point is very, very different.

Because this rich man in our parable doesn't have a son, but has a manager or a servant who squandered the man's possessions.

Squandered is the same word that's used by the prodigal son.

That's used for the prodigal son in the parable before.

See, this manager, he's unfaithful, he's greedy, he's reckless with his master's wealth.

The rich man actually, his master hears reports of this.

He knows what his servant is doing, and so he calls him to account and in fact removes him from being the manager.

Look at verse two.

You can no longer be my manager.

And then, like the prodigal son, at the very lowest of lows, the manager talks to himself.

Verse three, and we get to listen in.

This manager feels like he's out of options.

He's not strong enough, maybe not young enough to be able to dig and do menial labor.

He's too proud, too ashamed to beg.

But then he has an aha moment in verse four.

What if he could ensure that he has somewhere to go when he's fired?

What if he could put other people in his debt, in his gratitude?

And so he begins to cleverly think of what to do.

And he knows exactly what he can do.

He carries the very authority of his master.

So he actually ingeniously, shrewdly figures out what he might do.

See, he goes and lowers the debts of those that owe his master.

Now, we probably aren't too familiar with some of the numbers here.

Let me help us out here a little bit.

In verse six, a hundred measures of olive oil would be about 900 gallons.

So to decrease that by 50% is considerable.

It would be the equivalent of a year and a half wages that are taken off the debt.

100 measures of wheat, look at it in verse 7, was the normal output of a hundred acres of land.

To cut that by 20% would be equivalent to two years' wages that were taken off from the debt.

You didn't see how this manager's plan might work.

How these who owed such great debts to his masters might be ingratiated to him.

In fact, we might even think of this as such a wonderful story of generosity.

If it wasn't completely dishonest.

If this guy actually weren't unrighteous.

Because the manager here is not turning over a new leaf after his squandering.

He's actually doubling down.

He's now using his master for his own benefit.

You know, there's some scholars that try to tone it down even a little bit, try to find ways that maybe what the manager's doing is actually okay.

They're shrewdly trying to justify the manager.

But I don't think the text allows it.

Look at verse 8.

Notice how Jesus calls the servants, what he calls this manager, the unrighteous manager.

Because what the un the manager does is unrighteous.

It's criminal, in fact.

And I think that's clear to all of us.

That's why it doesn't sit well with us.

I mean, it'd almost be like if you could imagine a VP, a vice president, being fired for fraud, and then on his way out, he leaks secrets to his competitors so that he might get a job at one of those places afterwards.

We have a very clear category for that.

Criminal.

Right?

Like that is a clear wrong thing.

It might be clever, cunning, but it's corrupt.

And that's why the climax is so shocking.

Look at verse 8.

The master praised the unrighteous manager.

What?

The master praised the servant?

I mean, in our minds, we're like, how can that even be?

I think some of us, if we were in the audience, we'd want to sneak a hand up and be like, Jesus, we have questions.

Are you sure?

I think that's the point.

Because you gotta remember that Jesus is the one who had the tax collector, not the Pharisee, going home justified.

Jesus is the one who had the rebellious, reckless younger son, not the obedient older son being celebrated.

Jesus is the one who made the hero of his story a Samaritan, the worst of the worst, and not the priest or the faithful temple servant.

Friends, this is so important because Jesus is not just weaving a good tale.

Sometimes that's what parables are, but he's teaching, he's making a point, and I think he's making his point crystal clear.

Because this unrighteous, self-serving, worldly manager is being praised.

Which leads us to ask, why?

For what?

Well, look at verse 8.

Because he acted shrewdly, acted insightfully, strategically.

He's not being praised for his squandering or for his greed or for his unrighteousness.

No, he is being praised for his shrewdness.

I think this is brilliant by Jesus.

I think this is so helpful because it's a lesser to the greater sort of argument.

Think about how it works.

If this dishonest, disreputable manager is being praised for being shrewd, what's the sort of application?

How much more shrewd should we be?

How important must shrewdness be?

If you wanted to put a laser beam focus on this idea of being shrewd, isn't this a great way to do it?

By praising its use in such a disreputable person?

That's what Jesus is doing.

He's calling us to be shrewd.

That's the parable.

But let's dig into this point a little bit more.

Let's look at the point.

Because Jesus, thankfully, doesn't just work out, leave us to work out the details on our own.

He actually explains what he's getting at.

Look at the end of verse 8.

So helpful.

For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.

Now, don't forget the audience of Jesus' parable.

Look back at verse 1.

Jesus said to the disciples.

Now, not just the 12, but all of his followers.

This is the people of Jesus.

And Jesus says, here's the problem.

The world is more shrewd than you.

That's what children of this age is.

It's talking about the people of this world, and they're more shrewd than you.

Well, that's just as true today, isn't it?

Our world is shrewd.

I think almost every single one of us at some point in time has bemoaned the cunning, even sometimes deceitful schemes of this world.

We've lamented how ingenious marketers are.

Sometimes even how insidious technology can be.

Just recently I was complaining about our vacuum cleaner.

I love to vacuum, but it wasn't doing what it was supposed to do.

And sure enough, a few minutes later, I looked at my phone and what was there?

An ad for a vacuum cleaner.

Like they're listening to us.

That's why when I turn, you know, go to Instagram or social media, my sort of social media is filled with Atlanta Braves highlights and Puritan book recommendations and pizza videos.

I love pizza.

They're tracking us.

So cunning.

So shrewd.

See, the shrewdness of worldly people is often going to be employed for worldly ends, for worldly concerns, for things less important at best, and often things that are sinful.

You know, fantasy football is one thing.

But what about the shrewdness behind the industry of sports gambling?

Right, there's all sorts of ways in which shrewdness is being used in our world, and that's part of what Jesus is getting at, but not the fullness.

No, actually, Jesus just doesn't want to tell us about how shrewd the world is.

He wants to call us to shrewdness, but a different kind of shrewdness in one sense.

Why?

Well, how?

Well, Jesus tells us by God's grace, we're children of light.

Do you remember what Paul said in Colossians 1?

He said that we have been rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son.

That we are children of life, which means that we now can employ this sort of strategic wisdom to truly significant and sound ends to that which is eternal and heavenly and God glorifying.

See, Jesus's call here is to be shrewd back, to not leave shrewdness to the world.

I think in one sense, it's a call against passivity.

Friends, the world is shrewd, and Jesus doesn't necessarily note it here, but sin and Satan are shrewd.

And our response cannot be to do nothing or to just complain about such cunningness that we see around us.

No, we need to be shrewd, but for better aims.

That's why Jesus gives what he gives us in verse 9.

Look at what he says.

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth, so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.

Remember, whenever Jesus says, I tell you, you can be assured that that next statement's important.

And if he says it in the kind of arena of a parable, you could probably be assured that this is the point of the parable.

But here's the problem.

What did Jesus mean?

Anyone else a little confused by this statement?

Anyone else, when they read this, does it feel like Jesus is telling us to buy friends that will get us into heaven?

Like at first glance, that almost feels like what he's saying.

Like, you should buy friends that are gonna help you get into heaven.

I feel pretty confident that that's not what Jesus is saying.

I just want to be really clear.

No, no, no.

Remember what the unrighteous manager did.

He shrewdly used the resources at his disposal, though not really at his disposal, but he used those resources to obtain a secure future.

And Jesus is playing off of that here.

I think we can maybe see it more easily if we look backwards.

Look at the very end of verse 9.

Eternal dwellings.

What do you think that refers to?

I think it's a picture of heaven.

It's a picture of eternal life, of eternal home dwelling with God.

And here's what Jesus is saying then.

Jesus is saying we should use worldly wealth.

That sort of wealth of this world that is here today and gone tomorrow, that sort of wealth of this world that so easily distracts us and even moves us astray, he says, we should use the things of this world toward heavenly, eternal ends and purposes.

Towards those things which will never rot or be corrupted, to that which will never distract or lead us astray.

See, shrewdness for the Christian.

Is stewarding wisely, strategically, even cunningly, all that we have been given in light of eternity, in light of heaven, in light of Christ's kingdom and glory.

Now, Jesus is going to help us get even a little bit of an idea of what that means when he says, make friends.

That's the most confusing part of verse 9, I think.

But remember what the manager just did?

He made friends with these debtors so that they would welcome him.

Now he did it in a very unjust way.

Jesus is calling us to it in a way that is supremely righteous.

That we should use worldly wealth, the things that we have in this world, in a radical, sacrificial generosity.

That we should employ all that we have for, all that we have for the good of God's people, which is for the glory of God.

That we should not use our worldly wealth for ourselves and selfish ends, but we should use it for others.

Why, Jesus says, so that when it runs out, when this world is no more, we will have found that we steward everything for the welcome of heaven.

All that we have in view of that which is lasting and eternal.

Do you see how convicting this is?

Do you see how needed Jesus' call is?

I mean, we need this parable just as much as Jesus' first followers did.

Because not only are we not shrewdly stewarding all that we have for the glory of Christ, the advance of his kingdom, the good of his people, many of us don't even have a category for it.

Many of us aren't even thinking shrewdly or what if it means to be wisely strategic with what we have for the glory of God.

See, I'm wondering if maybe the most difficult part about this parable isn't actually understanding it, but applying it.

And that's why I want to take a little bit of time to talk about the practice.

We've looked at the parable and we've looked at the point.

Now we want to look at the practice because I'm wondering if you're maybe sitting here and maybe in your mind you're like, I think I'm starting to understand what this parable is and what Jesus is getting at.

At least I understand his main point.

It's making some sense.

But I don't have a clue as to what a it would actually be.

Like, what am I called to do?

What would it actually look like to be shrewd in a gospel way?

What would gospel shrewdness look like?

Well, I want to consider four aspects.

First, gospel shrewdness serves God, not stuff.

This is the most important one.

The shrewdness that Jesus is calling for is built on verse 13.

Look at what he says in verse 13.

That's why it's here.

He says, No servant can serve two masters, since he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.

Now let me be really clear.

Jesus isn't saying you can't do two things.

Some of us can't.

He's talking about lordship.

And his point is at the very foundation of his call to gospel shrewdness.

His point is that, friends, we will never steward the stuff of this world.

Now, that word for money actually has a larger context.

That's why I'm using the word stuff.

That word for money is actually the word mammon.

And it means wealth for sure, but it also means possessions.

All that you have, in a sense.

And Jesus is saying that we'll never steward the stuff of this world if we actually serve it.

If we live for it.

If we actually look to it to save us.

If we look to our stuff to give us hope, fulfillment, comfort.

See, Jesus is telling us that we can't look to our stuff to give us what we most need.

Friends, I think too many of us do.

I just being very honest in my own heart as well, I think too many of us serve money and stuff and not God.

See, I think one of the reasons why we aren't more gospel shrewd is because it actually tells us that we care more about the things of this world than we do about God.

Why is it that we're so strategic in some areas?

So uh kind of consumed with thinking and using wisdom in some areas, but not when it comes to the kingdom of God, to the worship of Christ.

I think because it betrays that our heart is actually caught up more in stuff, in the things of this world, than it is in God.

Friends, I think often we see our stuff as more essential, more life-giving, more ultimate than God.

And I think if you just want to see pretty simply what it looks like to serve stuff, I think you would just need to touch the thing that's in your pocket or in your purse.

I mean, just think about this device that we carry around with us all the time.

Do you does it serve you?

Or do you serve it?

That's like a real question when it comes to our phones.

Most people, the first thing they turn to in the morning is their phone.

And the last thing they put away at night is their phone.

And the average American turns to check their phone 150, at least 150 times a day.

Now, why?

Well, it is not because the phone is amazing.

It's not because the phone is pretty to look at.

No, it's because of what the phone offers.

It's because the phone is a conduit to the stuff of this world, isn't it?

It puts everything we want, everything we think we need, literally in some sense, at our fingertips.

There's entertainment, there's comfort, there's identity, there's social relationship, friendship, there's it all.

It's not hard to see how we might serve our phone rather than it serve us.

See, Jesus is making it really clear that worldly wealth cannot be an end.

It must be a means.

See, look at verse 9 again.

Look at what he says.

He says this, and I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth, so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.

Did you see it?

By means of worldly wealth.

The stuff of this world is a means, not an end.

You can't live for it.

Now, why?

One reason Jesus gives us is that worldly wealth will fail.

Do you see what he says?

When it fails.

Not if it fails.

When it fails.

Jesus is saying worldly wealth, stuff isn't ultimate.

It isn't lasting, it will never satisfy.

This life, this world, this age is temporary, not ultimate.

Paul makes the same point in 1 Timothy 6, 7.

We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.

This church, I think it's such an important question.

Are you trusting in worldly wealth?

Are you consumed with money, riches, possessions?

I know all of us would like to say no.

But if you're just honest with yourself, does your stuff serve God, or do you serve your stuff?

Now I want to be really clear, those are the only two options.

That's it.

Either everything you have is for the glory of Christ, or you're gonna do all for your stuff for more of it.

Friends, here's the truth.

Scripture is clear, your stuff can't save you.

But God can save you from your stuff.

If you're here this morning, you're recognizing even some of your own sin here, if you're being convicted, you need to understand this that there is one who can save us from our worship of self and our worship of stuff.

That there is Jesus who actually came to do what we could never do for ourselves.

There is a real sense in which Jesus paid our truest, deepest debt.

The very debt of our sin.

And he didn't pay it with his wealth, but with his life.

His very blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins.

He gave his life so that we might have real life.

And here's what that means: it means to be a Christian is to know that we have everything we need in Christ.

And if that is the case, then that means we can give anything we have for Christ, for his glory and the good of his people.

See, Jesus isn't just calling us to mere shrewdness, he's calling us to a gospel shrewdness.

He's telling us we are free to be truly shrewd for the kingdom for eternity.

So gospel shrewdness serves God, not stuff.

But gospel shrewdness is stewardship, not ownership.

Gospel shrewdness is stewardship, not ownership.

I think this underlies the whole parable, but it also is very clear in verses 11 and 12.

Look at what Jesus says in verses 11 and 12.

So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine?

And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own?

Now there's a lot that Jesus says in here, but I want us to see something very clearly in verse 11.

Jesus says, worldly wealth isn't genuine.

It's not real, in a sense.

Friends, that's so insightful.

Now, part of the reasons what we just seen, it's temporary, it's passing.

But the bigger reason is in verse 12.

Because in verse 12, he tells us this worldly stuff isn't ours.

It's not ours.

Friends, we're given it and it can be taken away.

And in fact, it will be taken away.

We are only stewards in this life.

And that's true for everyone, whether you're a Christian or not.

Whether you uh hold to the Bible or not, you you can recognize that what you have, you have just for a little bit.

That you are a steward and not an owner.

But do you know how meaningful this is for the Christian?

It means that everything we have is not only the stuff of this world, but everything we have is from God.

In fact, everything we are and everything we have is from God.

I think there are a few truths, honestly, if you just get right practical, like as practical as you get, there are few truths that help us be more wise and shrewd with our resources.

Because, church, if this is true, then it means that we can't justify being close-handed with anything.

Nothing can we do this with, because it is all God's, and we are just stewards.

To be a Christian in one sense is to live completely open-handed before God.

And I think that's even more true when we consider the good news of Jesus.

Tim Keller is pretty well known for telling the story of a woman in his church who really, for the first time, began to understand the radical nature of God's grace.

And here's what she said.

She said, if I was saved by my good works, then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me.

I would be like a taxpayer with rights.

But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace at God's infinite cost, then there's nothing he cannot ask of me.

Think about that.

There's nothing God cannot ask of us.

Because it's all his.

And he's actually given everything for us.

He's given us his very son.

So gospel shrewdness is stewardship, not ownership.

Thirdly, gospel shrewdness requires knowledge.

Now, here's where the book of Proverbs is so helpful.

I like just read all the passages this week that Proverbs talks about shrewdness, and it does so so often, and it helps us not even to see that it's a call, but also what it looks like.

And the key to shrewdness, we see in Proverbs again and again, is uh Solomon's gonna tell us it that it requires knowledge.

So often he'll actually contrast the shrewd with the naive or the simple.

You could look at Proverbs 1:4, the very beginning of the book.

Proverbs 1:4

Solomon tells us that he wrote these Proverbs for teaching shrewdness to the inexperienced or the simple.

See, church, I want to make this really clear.

We do not want to be a people puffed up with theology.

We don't want to be a people that are just intellectual for intellectual sake.

But we do want to be a people that are unapologetic and our desire to know God, to know his word, to know his wisdom, to know his will, to know his ways.

We want to be a people that are lifelong students and learners.

We don't want to be a people that just drink milk.

We want to be a people that feast on the rich meat of God's word, which means we cannot be a people that shy away from robust theology, from difficult truths, from walking through difficult parables like this one, from hard thinking.

See, my fear is that many of us we lack shrewdness because we lack knowledge.

And the reason we lack knowledge, if we're honest with ourselves, sometimes is because we want what that which is easy and quick and comfortable.

Even when it comes to the things of God.

Many of us want to open up our Bibles and we just want like a little quick nugget of truth that will get us through the day.

We want fast food theology in a sense.

We don't want to take the time.

We don't want to put in the work to slow down and to study and to meditate and to think hard on what God's word says.

I think if we were honest with ourselves, some of us would have to say that we actually know more about fantasy sports or politics or gardening, the latest fashion trends, or even cars, so many different things.

We know more about these things than we know about God and his word.

But think about this and how it applies to shrewdness.

How much more shrewd would our evangelism be if we had God's word stored in our heart?

When you're talking to a friend or a neighbor, a coworker who didn't know Jesus and you had God's word in your heart, how much more shrewd and wise would our evangelism be?

How much more insightful would our counseling, our discipling of friends and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ be if we could really diagnose biblically what sin is and where sin is, and also apply the balm of God's word towards that sin?

How much more helpful would that be?

How much more strategic would our generosity be?

If we really knew and understood God's wisdom on what it meant to give in such a way that helps and doesn't hurt, how much more thoughtful would our parenting be?

If we actually knew what God's word said about discipline and correction.

Friends, do you see how shrewdness requires knowledge?

If we want to be wise, we have to know.

The wise mechanic knows cars.

The doctor, medicine, the lawyer, law.

But do we know God's word?

Are we people who are digging deeply, diving deeply into God's word, or are we merely content to sort of lounge in the shallows?

Friends, let me give you just two simple steps that you might just even think about today.

I don't want to leave you going, well, yes, but how?

Well, one could be is what if you just every week you started to read and study the passage that we were gonna preach the next Sunday?

Well, you just did that simple thing.

Every day or most days, you just started reading and thinking about the passage that you were gonna hear preached the next Sunday.

It's in the bulletin at the back for you.

And maybe if you met with some friends and talked about it the week as you were preparing to hear.

Step two, maybe.

What if you got a book off of our bookstore?

Well, just the it's not, it's a table.

Uh but what if you just got one theology book and you're like, I'm just gonna read one good, solid theology book in August?

Just a book a month.

Just to begin to dig into this knowledge.

See, Proverbs 13, 16 tells us every shrewd person acts with knowledge, but a fool displays his folly.

Last thing I want us to see is that gospel shrewdness is strategic, not impulsive.

Theologian Wayne Grudham's pretty famous for talking about wisdom as knowing both what's best and how best to get there.

Knowing both the best ends and the best means.

And you can imagine how that would require shrewdness, would require discernment.

And that's exactly what Proverbs tells us: that we need to live strategically and cleverly in what we do and how we do it.

Proverbs 14, 8 says, the wisdom of the shrewd person is to discern, to know, to study, to watch his way.

A few verses down, the shrewd person discerns his steps.

The shrewd, they they think about what they do, they consider what they do, they they plan, they have a strategy.

They aren't impulsive, they're not reactionary, they're not passive.

Friends, I don't know if you know this about me, but I love to plan vacations, especially big ones.

Sometimes a year ahead, I'll start looking at, okay, where are we going?

What are the best options for lodging?

I'll start tracking flight prices, or if we're driving there, I'm gonna start looking at different routes and where we might stop on the way.

Six months ahead, I'm gonna start looking at articles and blogs and YouTube videos, and I'm looking like where's the spot we need to get coffee and ice cream?

Like those are two keys.

What are the restaurants we can't miss?

Where are the ways that we can tire out my boys?

Like, what are like real key things that we're trying to figure out for our vacation?

And then as we get closer, I'm gonna have a detailed, planned out vacation on a Google Doc.

And I know some of you are like, that's the worst vacation ever, and I love y'all too.

I get it.

It would be not fun to have everything planned out.

We are who we are.

But I know that all of us in some area of our life, we think strategically and intentionally like that.

We think shrewdly.

Friends, we need to employ that same sort of shrewdness, that same strategic thinking for the glory of Christ.

I mean, think about evangelism again.

I think a lot of people, when we think about evangelism, there's just like guilt.

We just admit it on almost admittedly like we struggle with it.

But what's our response?

Usually nothing.

Like, I think we're just constantly hoping that God would just like drop a perfect opportunity in our lap.

Friends, what would it be to think, what would it look like to think shrewdly about our evangelism?

I think it would mean that we would be praying for people that we know who don't know Christ.

But do you even see what that means?

It means we need to know who we know that doesn't know Christ.

Some of us haven't even really thought about that.

And then it means that we would probably need to be pretty intentional about figuring out ways that we can develop.

Relationships, ways in which we might be able to listen and care well for others that we know who aren't Christians.

It means that we're probably starting to think about who are some friends that we could introduce them to, Christian friends that we could introduce them to.

It might mean that we might talk to some of our mentors and ask them, hey, will it be a good book of the Bible?

Maybe a really good Christian book that we could read with this friend who's starting to actually ask questions about Jesus.

Here's what it doesn't mean it doesn't mean doing nothing.

That's not shrewdness.

But you know, gospel shrewdness doesn't have to just be in those like super spiritual areas, those things that we just immediately connect?

What about something like hospitality?

What if we thought more strategically about how we could make our homes, our apartments, wherever we live, more hospitable?

Can we get a bigger table in here?

Is there a way that we could set up rooms that are maybe centered around conversation and not entertainment consumption?

Could we maybe do some stuff to our outside or so we could have maybe some more people over?

But maybe for you it's like, well, I don't think I can do anything or afford to do anything to my home.

But maybe we could think about our lives.

Could we be more strategic about our lives to help them be more hospitable?

Maybe we could begin to think about is there some ways that we could create margin in our life?

Is there a night that we could do like a taco Tuesday and have guests over regularly into our homes and into our lives?

Maybe that means you need to think about some easy, quick meals that you can make that are actually pretty decent for when people come over.

Maybe it means you need to even save some money aside that you can invite people to lunch or to the park after church.

Friends, what if we began to plan intentionally about how to be more generous?

If we really thought about how we can put aside money and resources and stuff that we have that we might use intentionally for the purpose of blessing others, certainly our brothers and sisters in Christ, but also our neighbors.

What if we took every aspect of our life and shrewdly, strategically considered how we might best glorify Christ with it or in it?

And what if we did that together?

You know, part of the humbling part of even preaching a sermon like this is that there are people in this room that are so shrewd, have so much wisdom and knowledge in things like finances, marketing, technology, education, health.

So much more than I ever could.

And part of what I'm hoping that this uh passage will do for us is that we would just begin to start opening our minds together.

Well, how might I how might I think strategically?

Or how might we as a church think strategically, wisely, shrewdly about these ways in which we might do more for the kingdom?

You know, I wonder if maybe just each of us, and this is part of my hope, even just you had one area this week.

You just thought, here's one area that I think I could be more shrewd, more strategic in glorifying Christ.

I imagine we could come up with that.

See, my prayer for us this morning is that we'd have a bit of a perspective change.

That this uh parable would actually challenge us and convict us, as unusual as it is, it would help us to see an area of our life or a way we live our life or an attitude that we're like, man, we haven't really considered this.

Friends, my prayer is that we'd be a people who wouldn't just be shrewd in that which is temporary, but rather in that which is eternal.

That we wouldn't just be shrewd in ways that serve us, or even worse yet, serve our sin.

But that we'd be shrewd in ways that serve Christ.

Friends, Jesus calls us to be most shrewd for what matters most.

Let's pray.