This passage of Luke begins a section dealing with the wise use of one’s possessions. This parable is difficult to interpret, but it explains how Jesus’ followers ought to use worldly wealth. Jesus was pointing out that everyone, fully warned of the coming divine judgment, should follow this manager’s example. All people are in a worse predicament than this manager because their eternal destinies hang in the balance. Instead of frantically holding on to possessions which soon will disappear, possessions should be given away, especially to those in need.
Money will not last, but people, God’s word, and his Kingdom will. Will your investments reap eternal dividends? This manager handled financial matters for the rich man. He had extensive authority over the rich man’s financial affairs, even the ability to make contracts in the master’s name. A person in such a position should have complete integrity. Unfortunately, this manager did not. He was thoroughly dishonest. Having been informed of the problems, the rich man called him in and demanded a financial report. As a consequence, the rich man would strip the manager of his authority, but first he required that the steward prepare the documents. This would take some time, and the manager used this time to his advantage.
The manager just lost his livelihood, but he had a window of time before being fired. So he thought about how best to handle his coming unemployment. Having been a manager, he did not want to dig ditches, he had too much pride to beg, and his mismanagement of his master’s funds would cause no one else to hire him for such a position. So he came up with a plan whereby others would take care of him. By plying upon the code of reciprocity, the manager could find food and housing and possibly a job from those whose debts were reduced.
Much discussion has arisen around exactly what this money manager was doing in this situation. Some commentators suggest that what the manager was doing was removing the interest and his own earnings from each of the debts. Most likely, this manager was acting very shrewdly in figuring out a way to put his master’s debtors in his own debt. The debts here involved are very high, thus these probably would have been commercial transactions—perhaps involving lease arrangements on pieces of land. The manager summoned all his master’s debtors and reduced their debts by a substantial amount. In this fraudulent way, the manager earned their good will. Once the debts had been dishonestly reduced, the master could do nothing, but social custom would require these debtors to reciprocate such kindness to the manager.
The commendation for the dishonest rascal raises questions. Why would dishonesty be commended? The manager had cut down the debts, legally made them binding with a third party, and indebted others to him. Thus, there was nothing left for the master to do than to commend the manager for his shrewdness. He had solved his problem—albeit at expense to his master. The commendation seems odd, unless the master was simply appreciating the farsightedness of the plan.
Actually, Jesus wanted His listeners to focus on the lesson to be learned, which he includes here. The citizens of this world are more shrewd than the godly are. Citizens of this world refers to unbelievers, who are neither committed to God nor his eternal standards. The godly refers to the disciples and followers of Jesus. The shrewd manager sized up his situation, made some decisions, came up with a strategy, and did what was needed. Jesus was not commending dishonesty, but rather the manager’s foresight and diligence to follow through and make friends. The manager did not profit directly in reducing the debts, but he used the principle of reciprocity to gain favor with the debtors. By doing a favor for them, the manager could require a favor from them.
Then Jesus added, “I tell you, use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. In this way, your generosity stores up a reward for you in heaven.” If believers use their money to help those in need or to help others find Christ, their earthly investment will bring eternal benefit. Those who obey God will find that the unselfish use of their possessions will follow. Soon Jesus would spell out some of the applications for gaining friends.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what i have read today?)
If your mailbox is similar to Sharon and mine, at least once or twice a week, we get an opportunity to invest in something. The truth is, there are more opportunities for investment than there is money to invest. Today's passage helps us understand God's Investment Strategy. This passage is all about stewardship.
You might ask what exactly is stewardship? Stewardship is simply this - "it is the responsibility of managing some assets or affairs or property of someone else's." As followers of Christ we are stewards or managers. What are you to manage? Everything that God has given you. What has God given you? Everything!
I have shared with you that Jesus spoke more about money than He did about heaven. Jesus spoke more about money than He did about hell. One of every six verses in the gospels deals with money. So, the natural question is WHY? I think it's because God knows the tremendous influence and power money has over our lives. We spend so much of our time earning it, making it, and spending it, that He needs to tell us how to use it wisely.
I pray that today, maybe more than ever before, you'll understand money from God’s perspective, and what HIS investment strategy is.
KEY VERSE: Luke 16:11 "If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?"
Why is this verse so key? Because in God’s economy, money and possessions are not what is most important – people are. People are the true riches that Jesus is talking about here. The truth is, if you don’t get anything else today, get this. God entrusts us with worldly wealth, so we can use it to impact people. You’ll hear me say this several times, but the greatest impact we can make on people, the greatest use of our money is to get people into heaven.
Now, the key to understanding this parable, a parable is a story which uses symbolism to underscore a eternal truth, is v. 18 where Jesus says, "The people of this world are more shrewd than the people of the Light." He's talking about believers.
What is Jesus saying? Jesus is not commending this man for being dishonest but He does say there are some things He did that we ought to learn from. v. 1-2 "Jesus told his disciples `There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, "What's this I hear about you? Give an account of your management because you cannot be a manager any longer."
Remember what we said a steward was? A manager of someone else’s possessions! The guy in this story is a steward. He is us! The Bible is saying that God is the owner of everything. You don't really own anything. You get to use it for 60, 70, 80, 90 years but then it will pass on to somebody else
The Bible says that this man had to give an account to his master! Folks, One day God will ask me to give an account of what I did with the money I had on earth. That's the final test, the big final.
In this particular situation the man was a crook. The manager knew he'd lose his job because of his dishonesty, so he plans this clever scheme. In the next few verses he goes out to some creditors who owe the manager money and says, "How much do you owe?" One guy says, "I owe 800 gallons of oil." He says, "Cut the bill in half. We'll call it even." That was illegal. He goes to the next guy and says, "What do you owe?" "A thousand bushels of wheat." He says, "Cut that down to 800." One guy he gives a 50% break and another guy 20% break. I don't know why he didn't make them both fifty, but he had his reasons.
So he's cheating his boss. Why did he do that? A couple of reasons. He was making friends with these guys so that when he was on unemployment, these guys would take him in. They'd remember that he cut their bill.
v. 8 "The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly." He doesn't commend him for his dishonesty but he does say he was shrewd. Some of us may bristle at that word. Remember though, this is Jesus who is talking. Get mad at him. What does it mean to be shrewd? Jesus tells us to be wise and discerning. This guy was wise and discerning. He did some things right. What did this guy do that was right? Two things.
1. He looked ahead and planned. v.3 & 4 "The manager said to himself, `What shall I do now? My master has taken away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg.'" He said, `I know what I'll do when I lose my job here so people will welcome me into their house.'" He has a plan. Many Christians only live in the here and now. They never look ahead. They never plan. Many Christians are doing absolutely no financial planning. They don't look ahead. They don't plan ahead.
2. He acted quickly. He called in each one of his master's debtors and says "How much do you owe? Eight hundred gallons?" He says, "Take your bill, sit down quickly." Notice the word "quickly". He did it while he had the time. He acted quickly. He looked ahead and he planned ahead.
Jesus says to us as believers, "In light of everything that's going to happen in eternity, you ought to do the same thing with your money. You ought to look ahead, you ought to plan ahead and you better do it while you've got the opportunity." That's God's investment strategy.
In light of that, Jesus then gives four lessons about money. Fortunately, he interprets the parable for us. I want us to look at verses 9-13. He gives us a purpose, a pattern, and a priority. He says, "This is what you need to do if you want to know God's money management plan."
#1. THE PURPOSE OF GIVING.
v. 9 "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." Does that shock you? Use worldly wealth to gain friends so that when you get to heaven they'll welcome you in. What is He talking about?
He is not saying, Buy your way into heaven. He is not saying, Pay for your salvation. He's not saying, bribe God to get to heaven. Obviously, the Bible says salvation is a free gift. You just accept it. What is He saying?
The greatest use of my money is to invest it in getting people into heaven. That's by far the highest and best use of my money -- to invest it in getting people into heaven. He's saying use your money to build relationships that are going to last forever.
When I give to a ministry, when I give to a church, two things happen: One, I help people come to know the Lord and I make friends, maybe not here on earth but for eternity. And then I get eternal rewards. Eternal friends, eternal rewards. We're going to spend a lot more time on that side of death than on this side. So the best use of your money is to invest it in something that's going to outlast it. Use your temporary resources for permanent good.
#2. THE PATTERN FOR LIVING
God expects us to be responsible with the way we manage our money, the way we save it, the way we spend it, the way we give it. v. 10 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."
God says if I am faithful with what I have then God can trust me with more of it. If I am faithful with what I have right now, then God can trust me with more of it. He says if you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful in more. That applies to every area of life. If you've got a little talent and you develop it, it will get bigger. If you've got a little responsibility, you be determined and dependable at work, you'll probably get a promotion. You got a little money, you manage it wisely, it will get bigger.
I'm not a believer in the health and wealth gospel. But the issue is, whatever you manage carefully, success comes from faithfulness in the little things. When you manage and are faithful in little things, you get big results. Faithfulness in the little things is what counts. Ask any athlete, ask any musician, ask any salesman, ask any craftsman. God says, you take care of the dimes and He'll take care of the dollars. Faithful in little things.
#3. THE PRIORITY OF LOVING.
Jesus summarizes it all in v. 13 "No servant 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." Have you ever tried to work for two bosses? That's a fiasco -- trying to please two different guys at the same time. You're guaranteed an ulcer.
Jesus lays it out in black and white. He is definitely not vague in this verse. He says, When it comes to money management, the heart of the problem is really a problem of the heart. It's inside. Here is what Jesus is saying:
I must choose what I will love most in life. It's a choice. You can't love two masters. Jesus says, really when you get down to it the choice is very simple because it comes down to two things. (I didn't say this; Jesus said it.) The choice really comes down to two things about what I'm going to love most -- God or money. I've got to choose what I'm going to love most in life.
The very first commandment in the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." God wants first place. Anything that takes most of my time and most of my thought and most of my energy has a tendency to become a god. Money is a great servant; it is a lousy god. Is there any scripture in the Bible that teaches us how you can know that God has first place in your life?
Deuteronomy 14:23 (LB) says, "The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives." Tithing means ten in Hebrew -- ten percent. The principle of tithing says I give the first ten percent of everything I make back to God. Some people get hung up on that number 10%. They say it’s an old testament law and believers today are not under the law. Really? Theological that is just not accurate, but let’s pretend it is.
What’s the New Testament principle for tithing? Remember the Widow in Mark 12:41-44? What percentage did she give? Do you remember? Let’s read it. “And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the multitude were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. And calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”
What’s “all she had” mean? Folks, that’s 100%. So you choose. Old Testament = 10%. New Testament = 100%.What it really comes down to say is, if I'm not tithing, how can I say God's first place in my life?
Matthew 6:20-21 says, "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
How do you lay up treasure in heaven? By investing it in people who are going there. The purpose of giving, he says, is to reach other people -- as many as you can --
Folks that is what we are all about here at Church of the Valley. We are not trying to see how much money we can save and put into interest bearing accounts. We are not about building great cathedrals or monasteries. We are not about trying to be cool or clever or chick’. We are about changed lives. I promise you that everything we do here related to finances will be about trying to win people to Christ. To build and train them and send them for Christ!
Now the question is - what will you do with this foundational truth from today?
I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
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