The Power of Accountability!

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

16 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.’

In this parable Jesus compares a manager in charge of managing his master's riches to how his followers should handle the riches God has given us.  The bottom line was the manager was cheating his boss out of his money and eventually he was held accountable for it.  

In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man neglected poor Lazarus who was lying at his gates covered in sores and begging him for a crumb to fall of his table.  When the rich man died he went to hell, and Lazarus went to heaven.  The rich man begged for another chance.  But his actions on earth determined his place in eternity.  The rich man was accountable for how he used his wealth.  

Note this is not saying that we are saved by good works.  What it is saying is that we will be responsible for what we do with what God has given us.  We are responsible if we have been given a lot or a little.  When the shrewd manager got his clients to pay half of their bill to him, Jesus used this example to point out how people in the world use their positions of power and influence get riches.  Albeit in this case the man did it out of necessity to save his skin.

Jesus' point is if people in the world are this shrewd should his followers at least use the same ingenuity to lead others to Him.  And though this parable focuses on material wealth there are all other kinds of spiritual capital we have been given.  

Here are some areas we will give an account for:

1. We were given the most indescribable gift in Jesus Christ.  As we receive Him, we are forgiven of all of our sin and given the gift of eternal life.  Will we keep Jesus to ourselves or share the greatest gift the world has ever seen with other?  

2. We were given spiritual gifts to help the church reach its singular goal to make disciples who make disciples until the whole world is reached with the Good News of Christ.  The beauty of spiritual gifts is when we all use our gifts and they are fully deployed in a local church, the church is unstoppable in its mission.  

3. We were given people God has placed in our lives for whom we have spiritual authority over.  A parent, their children.  A pastor their flock. A spiritual leader their disciples. This is a little tricky because we are not responsible for someone else's spiritual life in the sense of us doing the work for them, but we are to pray over, watch over and share our lives with them   

4. The various capital we have all been given.  Relational capital. Financial capital. Intellectual capital. We all have been given different talents and we are to invest them in God's kingdom coming here on earth as it is in heaven.  

Knowing you are accountable is a good thing.  It is better to be prepared than suprised.  Jesus told many parables about using what God has given you so that when he returns you will be glad you were a good steward of what God gave you.  As Jesus said, "Now that you know these things it is good that you do them!"