This is the 27th post as
I attempt to visit everything (pretty much!) Jesus said about money in the
gospels over 2 weeks. In order to do this I will be putting up around two posts
each day. This is coinciding with a 2-week preaching series that we are going
through at Community Church Putney- Jesus On Money.
The Parable of the
Shrewd Manager Luke 16:1-9
Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was
accused of wasting his possessions. 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.’
“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—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job
here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
“So he called in each one of his
master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
“‘Nine hundred gallons[a] of
olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it
four hundred and fifty.’
“Then he asked the second, ‘And
how much do you owe?’
“‘A thousand bushels[b] of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
“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. I tell you, use worldly wealth to
gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into
eternal dwellings.”’
Sometimes, when I look at some people, some of them
ungodly, in business, I see a drive and wisdom that brings them huge business
and financial success. People like Bill Gates, Jo Malone, Warren Buffett, Steve
Jobs and Jack Welch etc.
Rather than being critical of such people, let’s learn
from them. Here are a few things that I have observed about financially
successful people:
1. Have vision- Jack Welch, during his leadership of
General Electric, saw the value of the company rise by 4000%! He has personal
wealth or around $1 billion. He said on
vision, “You’ve got to have a vision because you’ve got to rally
people around a cause."
2. Have passion- Steve Jobs, when interviewed
before his death and asked for the secret of his success, said, “You’ve got to
love it. No one will be able to put up with things, they will give up, you’ve
got to love it!”
3. Find what you’re good at – Jo Malone, founder of the fragrance company bearing her name which she
sold in 1999 to Estée Lauder for “undisclosed millions” said, “The only thing I
can do really well in life – I can’t drive, I can’t tell my left from my right
– but I can create fragrance like no one else in the world.”
4. Be a learner – Warren Buffett, the single
most successful investor of the 20th century, worth over 70 billion
dollars, reads 5-6 hours every day, he said, “You’ve got to read, read, read.”
He also spoke about the crucial role of learning from ‘Models’- “Copy people
whom you see as successful.”
5. Have a great team- Warren Buffett
said that in order to be successful you need to hire well – look for
“Integrity, intelligence, and energy”. Bill Gates said, “My best business
decisions have been to do with picking the right people.” Steve Jobs said,
“You’ve got to be a really good talent scout, because no matter how smart you
are you need a team of great people…”
Sometimes, very often in fact, Christians in their
relationship with God, their mission to make Him known, and responsibility to
disciple others, can be lazy. For some the attitude can be, “let’s just hope it
happens”.
Jesus said something interesting when He taught,
“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. (Luke 16:8)
We are to learn from the dishonest, shrewd, manager!
Jesus on money teaches us to learn from
the ‘money men’ (and women), use the principles of investment and return for
the Kingdom: Let’s be diligent and learn to make plans and invest in what
matters.
Take a moment to ask God to search you: Are you being complacent or are you humble enough to learn from successful people (spitting out the bones of course!)
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