Luke 16:1-13 - Devoted or Despised
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
This week, we are coming to one of Jesus’s most interesting parables. Parables are stories with a meaning. According to the ISB Encyclopedia, they are often metaphors with a short narrative which almost always seek to reveal and illustrate a truth about the kingdom of God. There is usually one overarching lesson in the parable. As we recently saw in the three parables in chapter 15 - the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son - we saw that the overarching lesson in these parables was the love of God and His rejoicing over sinners who repent. Although there were some smaller lessons interspersed as well, that was the main idea of the parables.
Today’s parable has one main idea as well. Jesus is teaching on the need to be devoted to God as illustrated by how we should shrewdly manage God’s money to advance the the Kingdom of God.
However, this parable is unique in that Jesus is going to present us with a sticky situation. We are going to see a man who is dishonest. We are going to see a bad manager who takes advantage of his master and yet gets a commendation from the master. As we go through this parable, remember the main meaning of the parable. Let’s make sure we understand exactly what Jesus is trying to teach here - and that we understand what is also not being taught!
Let’s go ahead and jump into this unique and interesting parable.
Read Full Scripture:
He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.
And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’
And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.
I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’
So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?
And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.”
Prayer
Today we will see three pressing questions regarding how we manage the Lord’s money. The first is…
I. Are You Managing God’s Money Wastefully (1-2)
I. Are You Managing God’s Money Wastefully (1-2)
He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’
Jesus is telling another parable and this one is directed toward His disciples now. Whereas the parables of chapter 15 were directed towards the Pharisees and scribes and all those who heard, this one is directed toward His disciples. The Pharisees and scribes were likely close by and listening however, as they are addressed again in the next parable in this chapter.
This parable starts off with a rich man who had a manager. This was a common setup Jewish culture. Those who were very wealthy would have a manager who was in charge of the estate.
This particular manager is found to be a poor employee. We are not told where the charges against the manager originated, but news reaches the rich man and he calls his manager in for a meeting.
We are told that the charges have stated that the manager has been wasteful with the master’s possessions. It seems unlikely that the steward was embezzling because the master gives some time for the manager to get the books in order. However, it was clear that this manager was not efficient in his work. He was likely careless and was not doing a thorough job in his accounting.
We are left in verse 2 with the understanding that this manager has lost his job. He only had a short time to close the accounts and give the books to the master. The master would be looking for a new manager now.
These first two verses offer a tough initial challenge for us. This wasteful manager has become an illustration for us. He has illustrated poor management over his master’s goods. He has not been reliable. He has not been faithful.
What does Jesus have for us to learn from the beginning of this parable?
There are many things that we could spend time on regarding these first two verses, but I want us to consider two important questions in response to what Jesus has mentioned so far.
The first is…
Are You Being Wasteful With the Lord’s Resources?
Money
Time
Talents
Everything you have is a gift from God. Your money, time and talents are all gifts from Him. How are you managing them?
Consider your money… Do you see your money as completely the Lord’s money? Maybe you give 10% to the Lord which is a great place to start - but do you not live like the other 90% is His as well?
Do you plan your time the way you want to plan it? Or are the Lord’s priorities your first priorities? Is fulfilling His call of being a godly man or woman, a faithful church member, a servant of the Lord, a regular reader of His Word, and a frequent communicator with God in prayer among your top priorities - or do entertainment, sports, and hobbies top your priority list?
Do you use your talents only in ways that bring glory to yourself? Or do you seek to bring God glory with your talents and abilities?
My friends, everything is the Lord’s. The breath in our lungs - every single breath that we take - is a gift from God. He sustains our lives. He has given us everything we have to enjoy. May we live solely for Him.
The manager in this parable wasn’t living like everything he had was from his master. He was wasteful. He lived recklessly and irresponsibly. May we learn an important lesson from this wasteful manager.
And as our second question to consider…
Do You Realize That You Must An Account?
This is a common theme in the Scriptures (Matthew 12:36, 1 Peter 4:5, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Hebrews 13:17).
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
We all will turn in the books for our management of God’s resources. Will we be found faithful in our management?
I don’t ask this to scare you, but I do pray that you consider the responsibilities that the Lord has given you. You will be held responsible for how you steward what the Lord has given you.
As we already mentioned, you will give an account on your finances, your time, your talents.
But you will also give an account on how you managed your marriage, your children, your home, your job, your other relationships and friendships, your church responsibilities, and so forth.
How faithfully are your managing each of these areas?
In order to avoid wasteful living, we must live intentionally. Take some time later today and truly evaluate how you are doing in each of these areas.
The Greek philosopher Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Although, we understand that Socrates was a pagan man of Greece, he does bring up a good point. But it is not enough to just examine ourselves. We must ask the Lord to probe our hearts and help us to make the changes necessary to follow Christ more closely.
Listen to the Psalmist beautifully articulate this desire for growth in the Lord…
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
May this be the prayer for each of us today. May we not waste our lives.
As we move into the next point, we get to the more colorful part of this parable!
Scripture References: Matthew 12:36, 1 Peter 4:5, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Hebrews 13:17, Romans 14:12, Psalm 139:23-24
II. Are You Managing God’s Money Shrewdly (3-9)
II. Are You Managing God’s Money Shrewdly (3-9)
And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’
The manager is very fearful at this point. He is losing his job. Being a manager would have been a very nice gig. He was likely well compensated and well respected. But now he was about to be unemployed. He thinks to himself that he is not strong enough to dig, and he is too ashamed to beg. What shall he do? Obviously he wasn’t going to get a letter of recommendation from his master!
Something else that is interesting to note is that this manager was not only wasteful with his master’s funds, it is obvious that he was wasteful with his own funds as well. He obviously didn’t invest any of his money or save any of it. He had no savings to hold him over as he thought of finding another job. He knew he was going to be homeless soon if he didn’t figure something out.
So after some thought, this wasteful manager comes up with a scheme. He decides that he will work hard at making friends as he closes these accounts.
But how can he make friends quickly who will take care of him when he is need in the very near future? Note, the manager’s focus here - it is definitely on numero uno. His plan is not to help others first, but he is set on making sure he is cared for! This is probably what has gotten him fired in the first place!
Let’s see what his plan is moving forward…
So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
This manager has just written off some huge debts! We likely miss the magnitude of these debts in modern times. One hundred measures of olive oil was around 875 gallons which would require around 150 olive trees. It would have been worth around 1,000 denarii which was over 3 years wages for a common laborer. The wheat debt would have been around 200 acres of wheat production.
Note that there actually are many more other debtors than these two - this is just a small sampling among many others.
By writing off part of these huge debts, he was putting these debtors under obligation to him. This was a very common practice in Jewish culture and was referred to as the law of reciprocity.
We saw this with the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14:12-14. It was customary that someone would invite a friend over for dinner with the expectation that they would be invited back in return at another time. Yet, Jesus taught against this and taught that we should invite those who could never repay us. He taught that there was a great heavenly reward for those who did not do good deeds in order to be repaid on earth and did them instead for the glory of God.
But this manager is relying heavily on the law of reciprocity! He is hoping that this idea works out well for himself.
There have been many attempts by commentators to try to explain what this manager is doing in forgiving these debts. It is a rather uncomfortable parable - especially when we see verse 8 in a moment. Commentators have proposed some of the following ideas to explain this dishonest manager…
Was he an old type of Robin Hood - helping these debtors - robbing the rich to help the poor? Was he selflessly giving up his personal commission? Or was he robbing his master?
The heart behind his actions and the deeper understanding of his actions is not the focus of the parable. The focus is on the shrewdness of this manager. It appears that he is obviously being unethical here. We have already been told that he is wasteful, and in the next verse he is referred to as ‘the dishonest manager.’
Attempts to justify this manager’s actions, although well-meaning, do not seem to align with the character we are presented with in the parable.
As I already warned you about - Jesus has a bit of a curve ball for us in verse 8…
The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
Now we are introduced to the master again. What will the master say after finding out that this dishonest manager has lost him even more money?
The master's response is interesting. He actually commends the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. I imagine that the disciples were scratching their heads as Jesus talked about the master commending the dishonest manager. I also imagine you are scratching your head a bit too!
Note that Jesus is not saying that it is good to lie. We can understand that from the teachings of Scripture throughout. Consider Proverbs 12:22
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
There are so many Scriptures we could go through regarding the Lord’s hatred of lying and dishonesty.
Also stealing made the Ten Commandments as #8 of 10 in Exodus 20:15. So we know that is obviously wrong!
However Jesus is using this parable as an illustration of the need to be shrewd as believers.
How does this practically play out in our lives?
Consider Jesus elsewhere also encouraging us to be shrewd (or wise) as serpents and innocent as doves.
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
This manager has been extremely shrewd in his dealings. Although his acts have been blatantly sinful, Jesus points to his resourcefulness and shrewdness.
He asserts that the sons of this world - namely unbelievers - are much more shrewd in their dealings with their own generation than the sons of light - namely believers.
Although Jesus is clear that we should be innocent and godly, we are also to be wise and shrewd in how we interact with the world.
The main application here is pointing to the lack of intentional and shrewd investment into the Kingdom of God. We see this clearly pointed out in verse 9 as well…
And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Verse 9 is a little difficult to understand on the surface so I am going to help break it down for you a piece at a time:
Make friends for yourselves - namely make disciples
By means of unrighteous wealth - perishable wealth or worldly wealth
So that when it fails - all worldly wealth will fail and be worth nothing in the end
They might receive you into the eternal dwellings - Commentators are divided. There are two predominant views:
1) This may refer to those who have been saved through you sharing the Gospel who will greet you in heaven
2) This can mean that God will greet you in heaven. Using the third person plural to refer to God without mentioning His name was fairly common for Jewish culture.
So in essence, Jesus encourages us to be good investors of His money. We should use the wealth that God gives us to advance the Gospel.
We talked about not being wasteful in our last point. But now Jesus has gone a step further.
Not only should we not be wasteful, but we should also be shrewd and intentionally wise in how we invest our money to advance the Kingdom of God.
The way we spend our money, the way to utilize our resources, should be mainly directed at expanding the kingdom of God - namely the spread of the Gospel.
We should have an ulterior motive for everything we do as believers - and that is to advance the kingdom of God by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. When we give money to a cause - our heart should be to advance the Gospel. When we serve anywhere - our heart should be looking for Gospel conversations! My friends, we should always be on mission as ambassadors of Jesus Christ - the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Some may scoff at this concept of having an ulterior motive of making Christ known through our giving or serving - but there is nothing better that we can do for people than to tell them the good news of the Gospel!
Listen closely to me Church…
When we give or serve, someone is going to be glorified and exalted. If we are not exalting Christ in our giving and serving - then we are exalting self.
I recently saw where a church gave a large sum of money to a local nonprofit. It was a kind gesture and for a great cause near and dear to my heart. I do not wish to be overly critical, but it broke my heart to see their video regarding the donation. Sadly, do you know what was never mentioned in the video interviews describing the donation? In over 6 minutes of video, the name of Jesus and the truth of the Gospel was never mentioned or even alluded to. This donation was kind and thoughtful - but the real need of everyone is Jesus.
What have we accomplished if we have just done something kind but didn’t point them to Christ? We have only exalted ourselves or our organization. My heart is not that people exalt me or our fellowship here at CrossPointe. My heart is that people exalt Jesus Christ.
We must be shrewd and wise in how we use God’s resources to advance His kingdom.
We cannot take anything with us when we die. All of the money and things we acquire on earth will be left behind. However, there is actually one thing we can take with us into eternity - and that is other people. Use your resources to share the good news of the Gospel with a lost world.
Jesus - God-made flesh has come and lived the sinless life that we could not live, died on the cross, and rose from the dead. And by faith and repentance, we may be saved. There is no more important message in the world. There is no better act of kindness than sharing the wonderful good news of the Gospel.
Finally, we come to our last point…
Scripture References: Luke 14:12-14, Proverbs 12:22, Exodus 20:15, Matthew 10:16
III. Are You Managing God’s Money Devotedly (10-13)
III. Are You Managing God’s Money Devotedly (10-13)
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
Jesus has been using this parable to talk about money. Obviously we have seen that we are to be good stewards of not only God’s money, but also the other resources He has given us such as our time and talents.
Now we are introduced to an important understanding that Jesus teaches. He asserts that one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much. The opposite is true as well.
It seems clear that Jesus is trying to teach against a common misconception among people that we see even today. Some people make statements like the following:
“I don't have very much, and so I don't give very much.”
How would Jesus reply to this? He asserts that you should not think you will get anything more given to you because you have not been faithful in what He has given thus far. If you are not faithful in the little that you do have, why would He bless you and entrust you with more?
Now don't understand this as a prosperity gospel message. God is sovereign and gives how He sees fit.
However, we will be judged on how we manage God's money, God's time, and God's resources.
Jesus clarifies this further in the following two verses…
If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
Jesus tells us that if we have not been faithful in unrighteous wealth - again meaning the perishable wealth of this world, why would He give us riches in eternity. Why would God bless an unfaithful manager with his or her own riches in eternity?
This is actually a great lesson for children. If you are not faithful in caring for your parent’s things, why would they trust you with your own? Stewardship is very important. Even as children, we need to practice good stewardship. Because nothing is yours. It all belongs to the Father. It all belongs to God.
But this is also a great lesson for the rest of us.
Church, how are you doing as a steward? Are you a good steward? Are you an honest steward?
How do you manage God’s resources? Are you shrewd and innocent in your dealings? Are you intentional with how you budget your money? Are you intentional with how you balance your time?
Are you truly devoted to Christ above all?
Jesus brings His teaching to a climax in verse 13…
No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.”
Jesus definitely makes a strong statement at the end of this teaching. No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money.
We will either be devoted to Christ or we will despise Christ.
What do these two words mean?
Devoted - dedicated; to hold firmly to; to cling to
Despise - to treat with contempt; to disdain; to have a low opinion of
These two words are obviously diametrically opposed to one another. They are opposites. This is the crux of Christ’s message in these verses. There is no middle ground. We are to be fully dedicated and devoted to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And Jesus is clear that there is one idol that seems to outshine the others. And that idol is money.
You are either a servant to Christ or a servant to money (Matthew 6:24).
With this in mind, are you devoted to Christ or do you despise Christ?
This is a difficult question. Most people don’t want to think about despising Christ. That seems so harsh. Yet, to live your life the way you want to live it is to live a life that despises Jesus Christ. It is a life that has a low opinion of Him. It is a life that treats His sacrifice on the cross with contempt.
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, beautifully describes a life devoted to Christ…
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Scripture References: Matthew 6:24, Galatians 2:20, Psalm 139:23-24
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, I pray that you take some time at the end of this service to seriously consider your heart toward Jesus. Like the Psalmist that asked God to search him as we saw earlier today in Psalm 139:23-24, ask the Lord to examine and probe your heart.
As you allow the Lord to probe and search you, consider the following questions:
Are you living by faith for Jesus Christ? Can you say, like Paul just did, that you have been crucified with Christ? In other words, is the old you dead and the new you alive in Christ?
The next one is hard as well. Are you trying to serve two masters - both God and money - both God and the things of this world - both God and yourself? Jesus says that is impossible. You will despise Him if you try to serve money, the world, or even yourself.
Jesus has one overarching point in these 13 verses. He asks that we shrewdly leverage all that we have - our finances, our time, or talents - to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ in order to expand the kingdom of God.
May we be single-mindedly devoted to Christ.