The Dishonest Manager
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever watched a movie that has a really big twist?
If you have seen frozen that movie has a twist
If you are into marvel movies you know that there is always a twist in every movie.
And we love twist don’t we?
Because its what makes a good story because it shocks us.
And we love to be shocked.
And if you have been with us the past few weeks we have been in this series called the great Story teller where we have been looking at these stories Jesus tells.
And Jesus was really good at engaging His audience and not only that, but the stories He told would tell would reveal truths to the people listening about their life, how they live and the character of God.
And today the parable we are looking at is actually one of the most shocking parables Jesus tells.
Because their is a huge twist in the story, where the bad guy in the story gets commended.
And Jesus really captures the attention of the people listening.
And so today we are going to be looking at this story and seeing what is Jesus communicating through this shock.
So we are in Luke 16:1-13 and we will just be diving right in.
So turn to verses 1-2. It says:
1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
So Jesus tells this story about a manager of a household. And basically during this time when there was an extreamly wealthy family they would hire someone to handle their money so they would not have to worry about it.
and what we discover is that the manager of this household is managing his masters resources poorly
In fact it says that he is just flat out wasting his possessions.
And so as you can imagine the master is not happy when he discovers that the manager has been wasting his money.
I mean if you hired someone to manage your money and gave them access to your bank account and you checked and blew through half your account on taco bell, you would be angry right?
And thats what is happening here. And because of it we see that the manager actually gets fired.
And this is not the shocking part, but I need to pause here because while its not shocking it does speak an extreme truth to our lives.
Because from what we can tell this man did not just fo something wrong once or twice, but this man made a pastime of it, and now his actions have caught up to him.
And this might sound obvious but I believe there are probably some of us here that need to hear this.
Our sins catch up to us. Because sin tears us apart inwardly (sometimes without us even knowing) but then it also causes destruction in our life.
Because we can do something that we know is wrong and in rebellion with God once or twice (and there may be no consequence), but what happens is every-time we do this thing we are playing a game of when will it cause destruction.
Its almost like this: In High school me and some of my friends would go to this lake by us and there was a cliff we would jump off that would go into the lake.
And it was a blast! (there is a picture of me)
The issue is there was this small area you would have to land and if you didn’t you would hit a shallow area that had rocks. It was almost like a circle you had to land in
And as a kid you realize you could get hurt or worse, but you don’t really think it will happen to you.
But I feel like almost every year what would happen is you would hear of one person that would jump off this and get seriously hurt or even worse loose their life.
And you know thats what is happening here. This guy took his moment to jump off the cliff and feel that moment of happiness
That thing that would give him joy
But then instead of him getting back up, he hit the rocks.
And to be honest this is a reality in our lives.
Do not jump off the cliff, because you might say its not a big deal or its only once, but your world can crash down so easily.
I have seen families destroyed because they took their turn on the cliff
I have seen peoples careers fall apart because they took their turn on the cliff
Do not jump off the cliff, Do not think I can hide this, because eventually you will hit the rocks.
So look what happens in these next few verses because starting in verse 3 it says this:
3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “ ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ 7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 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. 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. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
So this manager has lost everything, because he lost his job and source of income, but this would of also been where he lived.
And look what he says because he goes what am I going to do?!
I am not strong enough to dig and I am to ashamed to beg, which is funny because he is not ashamed to steel, but is ashamed to beg.
But it is this moment that brings him to have a lightbulb moment.
Because he still had access to his masters money, and has this idea that he can forgive some of the people debt and then when he needs a place to stay he can say “remember that time I helped you out? Now you can help me...”
And so it says he brings the people in quickly
And the first guys owes the master 900 gallons of olive oil
Thats a lot of olivet oil and he cuts it by over half
The next guy comes owing 1000 bushels of wheat and he cuts it by 20%
And you get this picture that he is the Oprah Winfrey of Biblical times because he is giving away so much.
And its amazing because instead of him learning his lesson and saying I am never mdoing that again (it ruined my job), he actually leans into it more.
But this is the shocking part, because the master finds out what has happened and you think he would be furios, but instead he is of him being angry he it actually says “The master commended the dishonest manager for acting shrewdly”
Basically he is saying “wow, that was really smart!”
And what makes this even more shocking is Jesus ends the story and it sounds like he commends him also!
I mean why is Jesus saying this is good?
But Jesus is not approving of this mans behavior but his point is in the second part of verse 8 where it says:
Luke 16:8 (NIV)
For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
Basically people are better at furthering what they want (whether it is getting a promotion, or reaching some sort of goal) than christians are at furthering God’s mission.
And this is one of those ouch moments, because I believe in a lot of cases this is still true.
because people will work to achieve a goal, they spend sleepless nights brainstorming, but the most a lot of christians will do to further the kingdom is come to church on Sunday morning and maybe go to a small group.
And I want you to notice something because in verse 9 Jesus tells us what we need to do.
And really if we were to look at this verse it is basically saying look we need to use what we have now to accomplish what God wants to do.
And in this verse Jesus speaks about using what we have financially.
And if you know me, you know that I rarely preach about giving, because it is somthing that a lot of churches have abused,
But this talks about it in this story.
And can I just say we really like money, don’t we?
I mean raise your hand if you like money. (I imagine most hands should be raised, If not I am assuming you don’t want me to give you $5)
But the thing is money and things we have are temporary.
a few months ago I bought an apple watch and I jumped from a highdive platform at a lake.
And guess what happened? It is now at the bottom of the lake. I had it one or two months...
But what amazing is we can use our temporary things to make an eternal impact.
And so what Jesus is saying is that I want you to use what you have been given to further God’s kingdom.
And I say this whenever we discuss offering, but we do not give to heat a building
We do not give to pay me as the pastor
If we are giving to do these things then we are just wasting our money like the manager in this story
But when we give we do it to see lives drastically impacted by the grace of God!
How cool would it be for someone to say because you payed for me to go to camp I accepted Christ
Because you helped with my missions trip my life was changed
Because you tithed and the church reached me I realized I was called to ministry
Because you gave to RAM or the local food bank I was so close to taking my life but because you gave decided I could make it.
Because all of these are true stories (the last one actually happened last month at RAM)
And part of this might include heating a building or paying someone, but if that is the goal you might as well throw away your money.
And I know what your thinking if I had more money, I would give more money.
If I win the lottery or get that promotion at work I would be so generous.
But here’s the thing in verse 10 Jesus says thats not true. Because He says:
Luke 16:10 (ESV)
10 “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.
I really believe this is in part why the Bible uses tithing.
Because it doesn’t become easier to give when you make more, but it is actually harder.
I would actually go as far to say that some of the most generous people I have ever met have very little.
And think about this practically… when you were in high school you would get your paycheck and it would be $10 and you would think okay I can give a dollar
But its harder the more you make, because say now you make 100,000 I can guarantee its harder to pay 10,000 dollars
And if you are not giving regularly, we are so happy you are here, but can I ask you where are you storing your treasures?
Is it something that can get destroyed or are you making an eternal impact?
And I just want to end on verse 13 because it says this:
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.”
You know in this culture it was literly impossible to serve two masters.
Because in this culture they were servants and you could only have one master.
You were either all in or all out.
And a lot of times as Christians we try to serve two masters. We want to serve God, but then we also want other things.
And we can try this but it will just create a mess.
And we have to decide who do I want to serve?
Do I want to serve a sin in my life?
Do I want to serve money?
Do i want to serve my need for approval?
Or do I want to serve God.
Will you pray with me?