Shrewd: Daring to Live the Startling Command of Jesus - Softcover

Lawrence, Rick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1434700739 ISBN 13: 9781434700735

Publisher: David C. Cook, 2012

Synopsis

It doesn’t seem to make sense: Jesus tells his disciples to take a lesson from Satan himself. A scandalous idea? Yes. Essential to the Christian life? Definitely. Drawing on Jesus’s parable of the shrewd manager in Luke 16, Rick Lawrence explores Jesus’s shocking mandate to be as shrewd as Satan and as innocent as the Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus implies, if we are going to be any good for the Kingdom of God, we’ve got to be a lot shrewder than we are now. Shrewd shows us how Jesus was naturally shrewd in every encounter he had, using leverage such as laughter, generosity, and bluntness to influence a situation for good. God calls us to be shrewd without evil intent, just as Jesus was. Because the truth is that we have no salvation outside of the holy shrewdness of a loving God. And that’s a scandalous story worth telling.

About this title

From the Author

Shrewdness is a weapons-grade relational tactic--a way of thinking and acting--that Jesus long ago urged His followers to use in their uprising against the powers and 'spiritual forces of wickedness' of this world. Shrewd people (and Jesus is the Exemplar) first study how things work, and then leverage that knowledge to tip the balance in a favored direction. Shrewdness is the expert application of the right force at the right time in the right place. Most Christians have a negative reaction to the word "shrewd," but Jesus not only exemplified this way of relating to others in His redemptive mission on earth, He gave us a mandate to grow much, much more adept in our practice of it. 

The point of His "Parable of the Shrewd Manager" (Luke 16:1-8) is specifically to highlight the behavior of a lazy, lying, good-for-nothing servant who has no qualities we'd want to emulate except for one: his shrewd way of saving himself from the consequences of his terrible behavior. Jesus highlights this anti-role-model for one purpose: "The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light." Later, in preparation for sending out His disciples on their first ministry journey without Him, He tells them to take nothing with them (no clothing, money, or "insurance" of any kind)--instead, He tells them they need just two things: 1. Be as shrewd as a serpent, and 2. Be as innocent as a dove. The word He uses here for "serpent" is the same one He uses for Satan. And the word He uses here for "dove" is the same the Bible uses to describe the Holy Spirit. He's telling His disciples to be as shrewd as Satan is, but as innocent as the Holy Spirit is. 

Shrewdness, then, is a way of living and relating that Jesus first modeled for us, then commanded us to do likewise.

About the Author

The author of dozens of books including Sifted, Rick Lawrence has been editor of Group magazine for over twenty years and is the co-leader of the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. Lawrence is a consultant to national research organizations and a frequent conference and workshop speaker. He and his family live in Colorado.

Edition details

• Publisher: David C. Cook
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1434700739
• ISBN 13: 9781434700735
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272