The Dishonest Manager
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
Over the Past several weeks I have been blessed to study a lot about the Kingdom of God. Obviously, I have presented two lessons on Sunday evening about the Kingdom of God.
When Troy and I decided to teach a series over some of Jesus parables it didn’t register at first in my brain that these lessons would go hand in hand. I say that because it is impossible to talk about the parables without talking about the Kingdom because that is what the majority of them are about.
It has been a blessing to me to spend time looking at how these parables apply to me as a member of the Kingdom of God currently while at the same time looking at what Jesus has to say about what to expect when we are able to live with Him forever in his peaceful Kingdom, the kingdom that will never be destroyed.
Many of the parables deal with how we as members of the kingdom are to live in the present Kingdom. They teach us how we are to live our lives under the reign and rule of our King, Jesus.
As we think about what it looks like to live as Saints in the present Kingdom of God Jesus begins a long dialog with the disciples and the pharisees staring in Luke 14.
In Luke 14 Jesus begins by telling them that there will be no room for them in the Kingdom of God if they are not currently making room for the less fortunate in their lives.
Jesus moves from the parable of the banquet feast to talk about the cost of Discipleship. In how that if you want to be a member of the Kingdom than you need to seriously count the cost and decide if you are willing to pay the cost.
He then continues to talk to the pharisees who are still upset that he has made room in his Kingdom for the less fortunate and the sinners.
To address their frustration he tells three parables back to back to back. The parables that Troy talked about last week. These parables help the pharisees see more clearly that that they have the wrong attitude when it comes to Jesus welcoming these type of people into the Kingdom.
Jesus makes it clear that the Pharisees reaction should be a joyous reaction. They should welcome everyone into the Kingdom rather than being disgusted like the older son was in the parable of the prodigal son.
Its with this backdrop that we continue our study of parables tonight.
Without this context the parable of the Dishonest manager can be quite confusing but when kept in its context I think it is pretty straight forward.
Before we read this parable together look with me at verse 1. Luke 16:1.
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.
When you look at verse one it seems as though the only people that heard this parable was the disciples because that is who Jesus was talking to but if you look down with me at verse 14 we see that the pharisees heard all that Jesus said and they did not like it. Luke 16:14.
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.
Not only do we learn that Jesus audience was more than the disciples but the meaning of the parable has more to do with just money (as we are about to see) but it also dealt with the continued topic throughout this section of scripture. The topic of the Kingdom of God verse 16. Luke 16:16.
“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
So with all this info about who is listening to Jesus speak and keeping it in the Kingdom context lets see what we can learn from this parable.
Read Luke 16:1-4.
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 here we have this manager of money who is about to loose his job because he has done a poor job managing his masters money.
After being informed that he was about to loose his job he begins to worry about his future. He says what will I do, how will I survive. How will I provide for my family. All I have ever done is manage money thus there is no way I am strong enough to do manual labor and I am not about to go sit on the street corner and beg.
Fearful of his future he comes up with a plan. His plan as we are going to see is to make friends with his clients so that they will help him out or as the text says receive him into their homes.
So lets keep reading and see what the manager decides to do.
Read Luke 16:5-7.
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.’
One by one he calls in his clients before he looses his job and reduces their debt, he reduces the amount of money that they owe the Master.
The first client owed the master 100 measures of oil. This would have been more than eight hundred gallons of oil.
Historians suggest that this much oil would have cost the equivalent to three years’ salary for an average wage earner.
The dishonest manger said get your bill out and cross out that you owe 100 gallons and instead reduce your debt in half to 50 gallons.
Another client of his Master owed a hundred measures of wheat. This would have been equivalent to 100 acres of wheat costing $2500-$3000 denarii, anywhere from 8-91/2 years of wages.
Again the Manager very generously reduced the debt significantly to 80 measures of wheat.
There is no doubt that such an act even though it was dishonest would have been greatly appreciated.
So to this point we have seen that the soon to be fired manager took matters into his own hand by being generous to others at the expense of his masters money so that they would accept him and hopefully return the favor once he looses his job.
Starting in verse 8 we see what the Master thinks about the actions of the manager. And its here where Jesus makes the point of the parable. Let’s keep reading.
Read Luke 16:8a
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.
I can only imagine that the disciples and the pharisees were shocked to hear the master’s response to the manager’s actions.
The master was not angry but rather he commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.
Jesus continues by saying… Luke 16:8b-13.
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.”
Jesus continues his explanation by saying that the people of this world are more shrewd than the people of the light.
What Jesus is saying is that the people of the world give more thought to their physical well-being than the righteous do to their spiritual well-being.
He then makes this point clearer in verse 9.
He says your wealth the unrighteous wealth will fail. Jesus is wanting the wealthy to know that money will fail them. And unfortunately Jesus points out that many times the people of the world understand this better than the people of the Kingdom.
Because wealth will fail you Jesus tells them how they should use it. They should use it similarly to how the dishonest manager used it. They should use it to make friends. They should use it to build relationships. They should use it to be generous to others. They should use it before it fails them so that they can be accepted into the eternal dwelling.
In this parable Jesus is not teaching us to be dishonest with our money but rather he is teaching us that we cannot serve both God and Money.
Luke Bridging Contexts
Jesus makes it clear here that money and the other material resources we possess are not ours, to be used in whatever we please. Rather, they have been placed into our care in order to meet the needs of those around us. What Jesus says here is similar to what Paul says in Ephesians 4:28: We earn resources in order to help the needy and to share with them.
Eph 4:28
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
You see this understanding is counter cultural isn't it.
The world teaches us to store up our treasure. The world says the money that we earn is ours so use it how we want in order to please ourselves.
But you see Jesus is making the point here that what we have, is entrusted to us, and God is watching how we choose to use that which he has entrusted us with.
Jesus is saying if you are preparing yourself for eternity than you must shrewdly use the money and stuff that God has entrusted you with to benefit the needs of others in order to build relationships. In order to invite others into the Kingdom of God.
Because the world is a lover of money no doubt-ably the Pharisees did not like what Jesus was teaching. Notice verse 14-15. Luke 16:14-15.
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.
And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
That which is exalted among men is the very thing Jesus is talking about. Its the wealth and stuff of this world that so many put their trust in. Its using our wealth for our gain rather than the benefit of others.
Jesus ends the discussion of this parable by saying… Luke 16:16-17.
“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.
Why does Jesus say that it is pretty much impossible for one dot of the Law to become void?
Jesus is trying to communicate that his laws have not changed. The laws about how to treat others and especially those less fortunate than them.
This teaching was nothing new for the Pharisees they had just failed to adhere to the teaching about how to treat others.
In fact by making this point about the law he is just reinforcing what he aid back in chapter 14 when this discussion started. Luke 14:13-14.
But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
In verse 13-14 Jesus says when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed. And you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
In other words don’t waist your money on pointless things instead use it to bless others and make friends that will last an eternity.
To drive this point home that this teaching is nothing new Jesus tells the story about the rich man and Lazarus in this same context.
Unfortunately, many times we take the story of the rich man and Lazarus and and talk about how this is simple a story to describe life after death. Explains.
But I’m not so sure that that is what Jesus point was in telling this story.
When we keep it in its context what Jesus is saying is that the rich man should have obeyed my law about how one should treat others.
He new what the law said. Instead he chose to ignore the less fortunate and spend the wealth the God had given him on himself rather than giving it away in order to help other and bring other in.
Since the rich man chose to ignore the need of a man like Lazarus by not even offering him his crumbs he was punished.
That is the message that Jesus is communicating. It is not a message to tell us exactly what life after death will be like but yet to often times that is all we focus on.
Jesus tells the story to tell the people that they better wake up and start living justly. Start living like kingdom people or you will not have a seat at the table in the Kingdom.
Back to the parable of the dishonest manager. Jesus point is even if the shrewd dishonest manager new that judgment was coming he was smart enough to begin leveraging what he had by giving it away for the sake of future relationships.
Jesus makes them look foolish because he says you guys have the law and already know what you are supposed to to with your money and how you are to treat others but yet you do not do it. Therefore you are going to be like the rich man who ends up separated from God.
What is the lesson for us in this parable and in this Kingdom context.
For people blessed to live where and how we do this parable could not be any more relevant for us.
Jesus is telling us the same thing he told them.
If you want a seat at the table in the Kingdom of God currently and in the future than you better start using what God has blessed you with for the sake of relationships now and in the future.
Application:
What does this look like for us.
Jesus has blessed us with so many things to use for his benefit. Maybe its your status in the community, maybe its you reputation, maybe its your skills or talents God has blessed you with. Maybe it is wealth, maybe its your stuff.
What ever it is Jesus says be wise and use what ever you have to be just and build relationships for the betterment of the Kingdom.
Use it while you have it because it will not last.
One day all that we have will not matter but what will matter is what we did with our blessings that we have been given.
We must be good managers of what we have been given.
We will always be like the Pharisees if we value our wealth more than we value relationships and serving others. We are just like them if we think that our stuff will last longer than our relationships with others.
We are just like them if we fail to obey the commands of Jesus. Jesus teaching about how to make relationships and treat the poor is not just found in the Law and the prophets. But do you remember what Jesus said in Matt 25:31-46 or what about James 2:14-16?
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
Both of these passages teach us that our fate is going to be like the rich man if we don’t use our resources to help the poor.
As we go through out our lives I want to challenge all of us to be more aware that what we have is not our own and look for ways to use it.
The challenge for us is to make sure that our money and resources are more outward focused than inward.
Church, home etc.