Throwing Caution to the Wind

Wednesday, August 07, 2013     Throwing Caution to the Wind

“The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light” (Luke 16:8).

Parable of the Shrewd Manager - Luke 16: 1-9

Many Bible translations call this parable, the Parable of the Dishonest Manager. I prefer the NLT’s, the Parable of the Shrewd Manager. In the context of first century Israel, it was the rich man in the parable who was dishonest. Israel’s law prohibited charging interest when loaning money. Some opportunists tried to get around the law by loaning commodities, such as oil and wheat, and charging interest on the transactions. Thus in the parable, the shrewd manager is eliminating the interest to the delight of the rich man’s customers. The shrewd manager also put the rich man in a position where he could not complain without bringing to light his shady business practices.

This story is not about commerce; it is about Israel and her failure to be a light to the world. Jesus’ teachings made it clear that Israel’s days were numbered; she was in danger of losing God’s favor as well as being destroyed by the Roman army. The Pharisees responded to the crisis by trying to become even more strenuous in their keeping of every dot and tittle of the law. Jesus’ response was that if you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep on getting what you're been getting. This parable was telling the people it was time to change course and take the road less-traveled.

The face of the Christian church has changed considerably in the last fifty years.

Like the Pharisees in Jesus’ parable, the mainline denominations have become so focused on maintaining their own traditionalism that they are keeping out of their churches the very people Jesus called them to seek and find. As a result, the work of growing the Kingdom has been taken up by newer, independent churches, which have thrown off the traditional ways, and have found new ways to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

However, new non-traditional churches are not the only road the Gospel has to travel. Too many of these newer churches follow a secular business model that puts too much emphasis on growth and expansion. With such growth come increased staff and increased overhead and operational expenses. In the future, these new non-traditional churches may well become the traditional churches of the next generation. Often, the best changes are the organic changes that come from within. The church where I worship is as traditional, mainline and liturgical as you can get. Yet, from within, one couple has sparked a revival. While on vacation they attended a church when Richard Stearns, the author of The Hole in Our Gospel was speaking. Now our church is offering Bible studies, based on the book, and so far hundreds have participated and lives are being changed. The church is becoming much more intentional in mission ministries at home and abroad.

Two people started our church down the road less-traveled. Imagine what you and a friend could do if you threw caution to the wind and found a new way for your community of faith to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.

  

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.