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How
do we manage our house? Our Spiritual house, our bodies in
which the Spirit of the Living God dwells?
1 Cor 3:16-17; 1
Cor 6:19
To be a manager of anything we must first know
what
we are managing. If it is a business, we need to know the purpose
of the business, as well as the goals and projections. We must
have the foresight and the ability to recognize when to expand or down
size. A good manager studies and does research, willing to take
risks based upon wisdom, knowledge, and experience. A manager
must make quick decisions, accepting the consequences of the decision
whether good or bad. A manager cannot half heartedly do the job,
it is all or none. The manager should know the business so well
that when the owner is gone on vacation or an extended business trip it
is completely undetected that the owner is gone.
Let’s take what we know is true in the
business
world and apply it to our Christian way of living. We have never
been a manager of a large business, but Jenifer and I have owned
businesses and at one time employed 20 people. Very recently we
managed a fairly large apartment complex: 9 buildings, 112
apartments. Jenifer managed the office and I managed the
maintenance. We were responsible for every aspect of the
business. The only thing the owner wanted to do was sign
checks. Neither Jenifer nor myself had ever done property
managing before, but we took our Godly principles and character, and
applied them to the task we had agreed to take on.
We first set our standards with the owner
before
accepting the job. God will always come first, family, then
work. The three will never be out of order. And we stuck to
it, even when we were asked to open the office on Sunday--a big rental
day. We had decided to make it our family day and would do no
work, besides attending church. (We only had to remind the
owner one other time about our order of living.)
We inherited a deficit of over $150, 000 and a
vacancy of 30%, with 1/2 of the tenants being gangs, drug dealers, and
people not paying the rent.
At the end of one year we were debt
free. At
the end of two years we were debt free and paying double mortgage
payments, and at the end of three years the property’s net gain was
over $1,000,000,000. We became the poster property for Senator
Wellstone and HUD. This property had been one of the worst HUD
properties in Minnesota, now it was one of the very best properties in
Minnesota; leaving other properties chasing after our success. At
the end of 6 years the owner sold the property, making enough money to
give each of the partners a very handsome profit; when all they were
hoping for was to break even, and actually expected a huge loss.
The owner and partners got to reap the benefits of our hard work; this
is exactly what we were hired to do.
Please understand, we are not telling you this to
toot our own horns, but to share what happens when we submit to doing
things God’s way--not our own (especially not the world’s way).
We have been asked how we did it, the answer is
simple: we didn’t--God did. We just had to be willing
vessels, with the faith
of knowing that God would guide us through any
storm that confronted us, and believe me there were plenty. It
was a decision we we had to make and keep putting God first at
everything we did. God rewarded us, as well as the owners, sounds
a little like Joseph and Potiphar. (Gen 39:3-5) Jenifer would
minister in the office even if she knew she would loose that person as
a tenant (divorce is a popular reason for getting an apartment and many
times people went back to their spouse after a little bit of
ministering). Jenifer would not let the need to fill apartments
override God’s principles. I would get to pray over the property
as I walked it, and over the apartments as I did remodel and
maintenance work. There was not a person on the property who
didn’t know what we stood for. Like it or not we were Christians
first, mother and father second, and managers third. If God is in
the rightful place everything else falls into place. God used us
to lead several people to the Lord (that we know of) and planted seeds
in countless others.
Having been managers for over 6 years, we knew what
we expected from our subordinates: if we were on the property or
away on a ministry trip or a vacation, the tasks were still the
same. We expected everything to run as smoothly as it would if we
were there. We did not expect to return to a neglected property,
past due work, and tarnished reputations for God and ourselves.
The owner expected the same of us. As Christians, we had to be
good stewards
of what was entrusted to us.
To be a good manager you must know the skills of
every employee, their strengths and weaknesses, you must know their
schedules throughout each day, and how to handle problems as they
arise. To be a good manager of a business you must become like
minded with the owner--think like him, react like him, and decide like
him; in other words, do as he would do. “But how can this be
done? I’m not him,” you say. True, but if you want to manage the
business you must be like minded.
To do this you must spend time around your boss,
one
on one. You will have to study your bosses ways, his attitudes,
his behavior, his likes and dislikes, his morality, ethics, and
values. You must know your boss’s ways of managing. There
is no value in going to someone else's boss to learn your boss’s
ways. You will just be led astray.
Now let’s take the business world and apply it
to
our Christian walk. We first need to establish who our boss or
master is. Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters.
Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted
to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and
Money.” In this passage money is the alternative master, a
great motivator for a large majority of our decisions. It doesn’t
stop with money, though, anything can be our master if we let it.
Once we have established who our boss is, then we have to spend time
with our boss, getting to
know Him and learning His ways (reading and
studying His Word). Only then will we be able to hear the voice
of God--our boss; and only then will we be able to know how to
manage
what He has given us to manage.
In Matt. 24:36-51 Jesus uses Noah as an
example of
readiness and being about the master’s work. Jesus explains that
we will not know the day and time when the master will return any more
than Noah did. The only thing Noah knew was he was to be about
the work of the Master. Which was to build something that Noah
had no earthly idea what he was to build, or for what
reason. (How many times do we think we need
to know what God’s
purpose is before we agree to do it?)
Noah, nor the people, had ever seen or even
heard
about rain. The earth’s water would seep up from the ground,
replenishing the land. So when God asked Noah to build an ark, it
was no different than for someone to ask me to build a diddly-bop
because it is going to dum-do-wat. I would have no idea what a
diddly-bop or a dum-do-wat was any more then Noah knew what an ark and
rain were, but this didn’t keep Noah from being obedient. We can
only imagine the people’s curiosity, asking Noah what he was building
and for what? I can hear the jeering, and fun they made of
poor Noah, but he remained steadfast
and faithful, for around 100
years. Then the unexplained, but not unexpected came. Noah
and his family were to enter the ark as it began to rain and the waters
of the deep started to cover the ground. God closed the door and
prophecy was fulfilled. (Gen 7:16; Gen 6:7)
As water levels rose, lakes began to form and
fill,
and rivers began to overflow their banks. Imagine, people
migrating to higher ground as the water rose. It rained 40
miserable days and nights, with no shelter for keeping dry, sleep and
food becoming less and less frequent, movement was the order of every
day, finding less and less ground for the mass of people. I would
probably be safe in saying that panic overruled any sort of judgment,
the fittest would be the survivors, but nether their strength nor
intelligence would save them from their ultimate fate, as ground gave
way to water, instinctively they would attach themselves to floating
debris until weakness would overcome them, causing them to slip into
the watery grave. It had to be horrifying for Noah and his family
to hear the cries for help, pounding at the door and walls, begging to
be saved from the wrath, while the waters rose and the ark began to
float. Noah remained faithful, steadfast to the Lord’s command.
Allegorically, there will be a time when God
closes
the door again to all mankind; it will be none the less dramatic, panic
will occur and many will be self-condemned crying out “Lord Lord” but
God will say, “I never knew you.
Away from me, you evildoers!.”
(Matt. 7:21-23) Are there any other words that sink a heart
faster? All from the lack of belief, disobedience, and
neglect of doing
God’s will, as was the case for the people in Noah’s time.
Who will be the good and faithful
servants? The
foolish who test God and leave this world prematurely, or maybe from
choices we’ve made about our lifestyles, cutting short our time on
earth? Regardless of the reasons, it will always be
unexpected. We may think we know to a certain degree if someone
has a fatal disease like cancer, but God is truly the only one who
knows the exact time or even if they are going to die. God may heal
someone at the last second prolonging their life for years.
(We have plenty of testimonies of that.) Jesus the Master said He
will return, it may or may not be in our lifetime, but He will return,
at an unknown time to all. In light of the weather patterns and
all the unexplainable phenomenon going on around the world we must all
realize that time is becoming shorter and shorter.
(Luke21:25-26) Even if the Lord decides not to come in our
lifetime, our responsibility,
our duty, is to teach and share the love
of Christ to generations to come. That is what we as servants are
called to do.
Matt 24:42-44 Jesus warns about being aware,
keeping
watch for the thief (Jn.10:10a) who will break in and rob the house of
its belongings. Jesus says that if the owner of the house knew
that the thief was coming he would have prepared. It is no secret
to any Christian that the enemy is prowling about seeking those to
devour, and it is no secret that our Master is going to return, we need
to be mindful of our Master’s business. It is true, if we knew
that a thief was going to rob our house we would make preparations to
stop the thief; even expose the thief so others will know who he is and
be aware of his coming. Taking such a simple common sense
example--being aware of the thief--are we making preparations for the
Master? Are we willing to protect truth, God’s
laws? Or are
we going to leave it to someone else, risking the chance of being a
hypocrite. (Matt 24:51)
Matt 24:45 -51 Jesus gave an abbreviated
version
about the master and his servants. The master went away on a trip
and left the servants in charge of his house. Jesus asks, “who
then is the faithful and wise servant that the Master has put in
charge...?” Can we answer, “I am?”
God is not looking for perfection, He
is
looking for faithfulness, a servant’s heart. Will the Master be
able to depend upon us to be that faithful servant?
There are no differences between our house and
the
house the Lord used to demonstrate His point. The house Jesus is
teaching about is not our physical dwelling with an address, it is the
dwelling place where God has planted His Spirit, our soul, mind and
heart. We as Christians need to examine our hearts and ask the
question “How am I managing my house, am I prepared for my
Master’s return?”
Matt. 24:46-47 says, “It will be good for the
servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell
you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”
Luke 12:48 Jesus gives another example of the responsibilities of a
servant, “But the one who does
not know and does things deserving
punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has
been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been
entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Matt. 24:50
-51 is
pretty harsh about the punishment of an unfaithful servant, “The
master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him
and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and
assign him a place with the hypocrites,
where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 23:13, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's
faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who
are trying to.”
Hypocrite Defined; (Webster's 1828
Dictionary)
One who feigns to be what he is not; one who has the form of godliness
without the power, or who assumes an appearance of piety and virtue,
when he is destitute of truth.
We do not have the luxury to set by and let
others
do the work the Master has given us to do, there is not a Christian
alive who does not have a task of reaching the lost. We are all
without excuse, so what we have left to do is the work we are called to
do. (Romans 1:20)
Who is managing your house? Are you
managing
it for the Lord or for your selfish
desires? Will God
consider you a good manager?
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