Shrewdness or Rudeness?

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.”

~Nelson Mandela

“Wisdom is oftentimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar.”

~William Wordsworth

“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.”

~Jimi Hendrix

“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”

~C.S. Lewis, “Hamlet: The Prince or the Poem?” a lecture given for the British Academy in London

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

~Proverbs 1:7

SERMON PASSAGE

Luke 16:1-9 (ESV)

2 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.