I almost titled today’s Message; “Settling for Junk, is Being Cheap to God”, but today’s idea is so much deeper than my talking just about worldly stuff. We are talking about your eternity, as we go about thinking about our God, Lord and Savior, Sustainer by Spirit, of all that is holy and good.
Our God is more than a mouthful to say, He is the Deity that we will be spending the rest of our time trying to comprehend, understand, and serve. And we people of God, Children of Light (at times), are Shrewd enough to begin the journey. Hence today’s title: Children of Light & Shrewd About God! And in so doing, we praise, glorify, and magnify His Holy and precious Name!
First things first. I need to ask what the word shrewd means? So of course, I looked it up in Wikipedia. Just kidding. I Googled it so you it’s accurate, and I found a definition;
Shrewd: having or showing sharp powers of judgment; (astute, smart, perceptive, and incisive) are interchangeable words.
example: “she was shrewd enough to guess the motive behind his gesture”
For today’s purposes, I want to consider all of us either shrewd or working on being shrewd about our Lord. Once we have decided to follow our Lord, we have indeed made a very shrewd decision that is full of common sense.
It means that we are beginning to know that our God is our salvation, and when people have gone astray, we morn for and pray for them. That we are walking in the prophet Jeremiah’s footsteps when we come to the Lord in prayer for others. Reading from Jeremiah 8: 18-9:1;
18 You who are my Comforter in sorrow,
my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King no longer there?”
“Why have they aroused my anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?
9 1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people.
Jeremiah’s words are so profound, because the Lord’s Spirit is speaking through Him. In fact, there were two places in this passage, where the words could have come from either Jeremiah or God speaking Himself personally. Specifically, the second part of verse 19;
“Why have they aroused my anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?”,
and then verse 9:1;
Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.
I believe God does mourn our bad behavior, and it grieves Him see us miss the mark. Which is why we want to do better, and strive to be children of light in a world of darkness.
In fact, when one is shrewd enough to understand that being more like the Lord is a good thing, a person begins to sound more and more like the source of all graciousness themselves.
When I am learning to walk in our Lord’s footsteps, I am learning to put others first. And when I see others stumbling when it comes to loving God or others, I am genuinely saddened because we are being instructed by our God to put others before ourselves. Because of what we are beginning to understand about our God, we are now moved to hope for the best for others in our lives.
It seems that the further down the road we travel with our Lord in this thing called a Faithwalk, the more we begin to understand that His love is not confined to just us. Our God is vitally concerned with all of His creation and not just me and mine.
On good authority, we are counseled by Paul to pray for all people. Reading again from today’s Call to Worship, Paul’s letter to teach Timothy how to flourish in his ministry of service to God by serving others, thereby serving and pleasing God. Here is 1 Timothy 2:1-8;
1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
*Please let me interrupt to say: When we the family of God (children of Light), understand what pleases our God, isn’t it a very shrewd thing to actually accomplish what you know your creator likes? Instead of looking for reasons not to be of service to others, we must be available to our Lord by sharing the Gospel will all whom God places in our lives. Paul continues at verse 5;
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle – I am telling the truth, I am not lying – and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.
Paul of all people, was made an Apostle (a messenger) for the gentiles in the world. Gentiles were the non-Jewish, non-believers, or believers in Christ who had no experience of being Jew as Paul was. And Paul began his life as a force of nature. He persecuted Christians (because they didn’t believe in his idea of God. He actually thought he was serving God when he egged on the crowd to stone and kill Stephen in the book of Acts. Then he perused and persecuted Christians, and was heading to Damascus to do some more when the Lord had a come to the mountain moment with Paul.
Here’s a question; does Paul’s early life sound like a man of God? You see Grace, Mercy, and acting justly, are such different concepts of service to God, than legalisms that strangle and stagnate our souls, and serve as roadblock to God. What our Lord taught Paul on the Road to Damascus and the years afterward, was discernment of what God wants, and not what we desire in life.
When people of good will, flawed as we all are come to the Lord looking for God’s grace, His love, and seeking blessing for others “without anger or disputing”, God is not only glorified, and He is pleased. And when we in God’s family understand what God likes and wants, we shrewdly seek to please him.
Now there are other meanings for being shrewd that I looked up in my research. Shrewd also can mean: given to wily and artful ways or dealing, a shrewd operator. Kind of like Jacob when he stole his brother’s birthright in Geneses, or when Abraham half lied to the Pharaoh about Sarah being his wife in the same book.
Today’s Message Reading is about a shrewd operator and this passage is given to us from our Lord in the Gospel of Luke. Like so many of our Lord’s parables and teachings, they come with many layers in order for each generation to identify and then glean new meanings for our lives. Reading again from Luke 16:1-13;
1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
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— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
*I’m interrupting the story to add; so far so good. The manager has come to a quick conclusion that he needs other people to survive this trial. This is typical of anyone in trouble. Our goal is to learn this part of the lesson now before we are forced to come to terms with our need for others. Continuing now at verse 5;
5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’
7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
**Interrupting again to say; Theologians and Bible Scholars disagree whether the manager is a). giving the debtors his cut of the profits (doubtful), b). not letting his master take unfair interest on loans which is against Mosaic law, or c). outright cheating his master of his wealth. I don’t think it really matters.
Regardless, the manager’s actions are heavy handed and more about himself than the one he is supposed to be serving. His integrity is in doubt to say the least. And at the end of the day, all of us are flawed as the manager, and in need of some grace, big time. Continuing now at verse 8;
8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 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.
***Cutting in again to say: We can learn an important lesson from our manager in trouble. Being shrewd can be selfishly worldly like the manager or we can strive to be wise towards our Lord’s business, which is us going out into the world and serving others.
We can learn how the world thinks so that we can communicate the Gospel more effectively, without sacrificing our integrity, or watering down God’s word. We can reach out to others unlike the manager with no ulterior motives, and no strings attached because the one in charge of eternal dwellings is your God. Our Lord tells us in Matthew how to do this, and that we should be innocent and shrewd about our business of service at the same time. Reading from Matthew 10:16-17;
16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.
And a shrewd person wants to please the one who loves you in spite of you. And to be willing to do so even when there is risk to us personally, and to do so with integrity, sincerity, and grace. Resuming now today’s message reading in Matthew at verse 10;
10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Or as Micah 6:8 teaches; to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. Integrity!
Cut to the chase, I think, and again this is my thought. You are charged with studying your Bible, praying and thinking for yourselves with your Lord as your anchor. My thought; we are to be shrewd (wise and intelligently focused) in our building real relationships with the people God places in our lives. Our relationships need to be based on genuine love and concern and not ulterior motives, and they need to reflect our love of God. That’s when we can use the name “Children of Light”, members of God’s family, the Body of Christ, who are shrewd about God.
Simple, yes. Easy, no. But well worth beginning the journey that is completed at the thrown of Heaven. My prayer and hope for each of you today, is that you will make progress on being; Children of Light & Shrewd About God
Amen!