Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO: Tests - any kind of test but most tests test your knowledge… this passage is a test of your heart

If you think we are after your money… we are not.

One of few churches attend not passing a plate… when we started boxes (STORY) God has always provided… so whether you give or not God will fund what He desires to see happen… If this is your church you should tithe give a tenth...

“an article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider for everything except happiness.”

The writer might have added that money is also a provoker of covetousness and competition, a wonderful servant but a terrible master.

This particular steward forgot that he was a steward and began to act as if he were the owner.

He became a “prodigal steward” who wasted his master’s wealth.

His master heard about it and immediately asked for an inventory of his goods and an audit of his books.

He also fired his steward.

This parable, especially the applications at the end, argues that the use of resources is a litmus test of spiritual stewardship.

Of the nearly forty parables told by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels, about one third of them deal in some way with money.

That money played such a prominent role in the teaching of Jesus is not surprising, since it has a dominant role in society and the lives of individuals.

People spend much of their time thinking about money; how to acquire it, spend it, save it, invest it, borrow it, keep track of it, and sometimes give it away.

The widespread preoccupation with money that dominates today’s society results in anxiety, covetousness, selfishness, greediness, discontent, idolatry, and pride.

TRANSITION:

CONTEXT:

Many well-to-do landowners had managers to oversee their estates; these managers, or stewards, could be slaves or, as here (16:3–4), free persons.

Squandering another’s possessions was considered a particularly despicable crime (cf.

15:13).

Although the master has dismissed this manager, the master gives him some time to get the accounts together before he leaves.

The manager uses this time to procure favor for himself with others to whose houses he may join himself afterward; ancients were very conscious of favors they owed.

He uses the master’s authority even though he can no longer legally exercise it.

Both digging and begging were considered undignified professions.

Digging was usually performed by captive slaves or those who knew no other skills, and was viewed as the most difficult form of labor.

16:6–7.

The measure of olive oil (100 baths, about 850 gallons) represented the yield of nearly 150 trees and was worth about 1,000 denarii, no small sum.

The measure of wheat (100 cors, about 1,000 bushels) represented the yield of about 100 acres and was worth about 2,500 denarii.

The percentages of debt forgiven differ, but roughly the same amount of money is forgiven in each of the sample transactions (about 500 denarii).

These renters are all relatively well-to-do in their own right, and thus might make use of a manager themselves in the future.

Listen if you have this level of debt on your annual transactions, you probably have a good amount of money yourself...

All these changes of notes required only small marks on the papers, made by the clients themselves; and if the projected income thereby appears less, it will be harder to recognize that the master’s profits affected by the manager’s embezzlements are really diminished.

More important, the manager has gained public favor for himself and for the master as a generous benefactor; if the master punishes the manager now, it would appear to the public that he were doing so because of the manager’s benevolent act.

The criminal manager could be jailed, but he wisely stakes everything on his master’s honor as a generous man.

Ancient stories often portray powerful persons as appreciating and rewarding cunning, even if it had been used against them (“wisely”—KJV—can mean “shrewdly”—NIV, NASB, etc.; cf.

Ex 1:10).

.

The moral of the story is: Use possessions to serve people, because you are only God’s managers of anything you have.

“Mammon” (KJV) is an Aramaic word for possessions or money.

Suggested possibilities include these: (1) The amount taken off the account is not part of the original debt but is the commission or interest that rightly belongs to the manager.

(2) Since the manager earlier shamed his master (v.

1), his distributing his master’s wealth may restore his master’s status as an honorable benefactor.

(3) The manager uses “wealth to gain friends” (v.

9) and thus can form a network that provides for him when he is unemployed.

was wasting his goods.

His prodigality is a thread that ties this parable to the preceding one.

Like the younger son in the earlier parable, this steward was guilty of wasting the resources available to him.

Unlike the prodigal, however, he had enough sense to make sure that his wastefulness did not leave him friendless and unprovided for in the future.

“Manager” (oikonomos, v. 1, often tr.

“steward”)

READ:

Jesus frequency about money far surpasses the churches… more than about heaven and hell combined… Everyone talks about money, everyone wants your money BUT people get weird in church when we talk about money...

We have heard him in the jolting woe of the Sermon on the Plain (“Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort,” 6:24) and in the pungent Parable of the Rich Fool in 12:13–21.

Now Jesus raised the issue again in the successive parables of the dishonest manager (16:1–13) and the rich man and Lazarus (16:19–31) and not much later in the account of the rich ruler (18:18–30), followed by the story of Zacchaeus who gave half his possessions to the poor (19:1–9).

Jesus has indeed spoken on the issue!

Tests our values

Phronimōs (shrewdly) means to act wisely and with insight.

The manager took advantage of his opportunity, carefully working the situation to his own advantage.

Since the debtors were now obligated to him, his future was secure.

Sinners are more skilled and diligent in securing their temporal future in this present age than those whose citizenship is in heaven (Phil.

3:20) are in securing their eternal reward in the age to come.

Believers should be far more shrewd in preparing for their eternal futures.

That is, people in the world give more thought to their physical well-being than the righteous do to their spiritual well-being.

Think about how that is true, exercise… financial planning...

He develops the point by a specific example in verse 9. Wealth of this world should be used generously to gain friends, so that when the resources are gone, that disciple will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Monetary resources, which possess a power to distort values, should be put to generous and serving use, so that heaven will be pleased to accept the one who has been generous.

God honors those who are generous.

When the end comes and no more money is available, the one who has seen into the future and acted prudently will have handled the resources and stewardship God has given wisely.

Zacchaeus is a positive example of this (19:1–10).

16:8b–13.

In three ways Jesus applied the parable to His disciples who had to live with nonbelievers in the world.

First, one should use money to win people into the kingdom (vv.

8b–9).

The thief says, “What’s yours is mine—I’ll take it!”

The selfish man says, “What’s mine is mine—I’ll keep it!”

But the Christian must say, “What’s mine is a gift from God—I’ll share it!”

We are stewards and we must use our abilities to win the lost, encourage the saints, and meet the needs of hurting people.

JMAC notes

(cf.

; ; ).

These comments are from JMac passage

6:17–19 Paul counsels Timothy what to teach those who are rich in material possessions, those who have more than the mere essentials of food, clothing, and shelter.

Paul does not condemn such people, nor command them to get rid of their wealth.

He does call them to be good stewards of their God-given resources (cf.

Deut.

8:18; 1 Sam.

2:7; 1 Chr.

29:12).

Those who have much tend to trust in their wealth (cf.

Prov.

23:4, 5).

But God provides far more security than any earthly investment can ever give (Eccl.

5:18–20; Matt.

6:19–21).

See the verses at the end

6:18 ready to give.

The Gr. word means “liberal,” or “bountiful.”

Those believers who have money must use it in meeting the needs of others, unselfishly and generously (see notes on Acts 4:32–37; 2 Cor.

8:1–4).

Wasting… how wasteful are we?

In context we just spent 2 weeks in what was the problem (Prodigal - wasteful… reckless living - older son wasteful wasting opportunity… Father is Prodigal can be lavish extravagant… on the sons) Here wasting squandering...

wasting.

This connects this parable with the previous one, in which the younger son “squandered his wealth” (15:13).

This manager was “accused of” committing the same mistake and thus bringing shame to his master.

it is a mis-valuing of what is truly valuable.

The Pharisees are described here in a way that is true of all of us—we are “lovers of money” (v.

14).

Money is valued and sought because of the pleasure and honor it brings.

Jesus points out that even though wealth brings honor with other people, God sees and cares about our hearts (cf. 1 Sam.

16:7).

Even more strongly, this human valuing of wealth and what it brings is actually despised by God (Luke 16:15)