Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.”

- Luke 16:8

Stepping Through a Strange Parable

What can we say about this strange parable?

A dishonest manager isn’t terribly surprising, even in a parable of our Lord.

But for that dishonest manager to be commended?

What do you make of that?

What is that supposed to tell us?

Let’s walk our way through it and see.

Actually, we’ll start at the end and see if we can make more sense of it that way.

Step 1: To paraphrase the words that every student dreads, this parable tells us, “Yes, there will be a test.”

Except we actually need to go a step further: Yes, it is a test.

It’s definitely a test.

Right now.

Step 2: Worse, it is a strange test.

Not tricky, like one of those true/false tests where the statements that you’re asked to declare to be ‘true’ or ‘false’ are all double or triple negatives.

No tricks.

But very, very strange.

Step 3: And the test involves the way you use money.

Step 4: What is God testing?

Will you serve God or mammon?

Can He trust you to serve Him or will you serve money instead?

(Or let’s use the old word: ‘mammon.’

Worldly goods.)

Here’s the punchline: the test is not actually about money.

The test is to see if He can trust you with something even greater.

So far so good?

You’re being tested right now.

And yes, it is a strange test from our perspective.

But you are being tested to see how you handle the earthly wealth He has given you.

And He’s testing you to see if you will serve Him or if you will serve mammon.

But, in the end, it’s not actually about money.

He’s seeing if He can entrust to you something greater.

So far so good.

The sticking point here is the test, itself.

Why is this “shrewd”/“dishonest” manager an example of someone who passes the test?

What part of this are you to emulate?

Let’s try to come at this backwards, as well, and see if we can’t figure out what Jesus would have us learn from this “shrewd”/“dishonest” manager—a question for my confirmands (and recent confirmands): what four-letter word must we never, ever use in church?

“Fair”

Do you ever want to deal with God based on what’s ‘fair’?

No! Never!

Hell is fair.

It’s horrible to think about Judgment Day and the prospect of so many being cast into eternal fire.

It would be wrong not to be bothered by that thought.

We might well wring our hands at the prospect.

But there will never be any suggestion that it isn’t fair.

What did this “shrewd”/“dishonest” manager do right?

He’s not handling the master’s money according to what is ‘fair’.

He’s cancelling debts right and left.

“He’s banking on the fact that, when these tenants have these reductions of rate and word begins to get out, the master is going to be seen as generous, as gracious, as merciful, as giving.

And it is that gracious, giving, merciful character of the master that the steward is banking on.

He— in this moment of judgment, in this moment of uncertain future— he banked on the mercy of the master.

And, as we’ll see, it turned out well for him.”

And for that the master commends him.

That’s the test.

That is what it looks like to serve God rather than mammon.

To take the point a little further, let’s look at the Pharisees.

This parable was told against them.

To them, their great wealth was a sign of God’s favor.

God was blessing them because they were so obedient and faithful— so righteous.

Indeed, it impressed others, as well.

So, as they prepared for the coming judgment, they felt quite secure because of the wealth they had built up.

But God knew their hearts.

He saw that, for them, wealth was about luxury and self-indulgence.

That wealth, which gave them great comfort and security, was actually the reason why they would soon be judged ‘worthless.’

I can’t help but think about the accusation that’s often leveled against Christians that you and I are so quick to defend unborn life and so quick to object to programs that help provide for those in need.

On the one hand it does not come close to justifying the killing of the unborn.

On the other, they’re partly right.

We may not be able to quote very many Bible verses from memory, but we are quick to quote the verse that says, “If a man will not work he will not eat.”

I want to be careful, because there is a great deal of room for Christians to disagree here as to the best, most effective way to do it, but how often is advocating “smaller government” an excuse for selfishness?

How often do we react by coming up with excuses for why the poor really deserve their plight?

On the coming day of judgment, will God find that what is in our hearts is actually a sinful sense that we deserve our wealth and comfort while the poor haven’t earned what we have?

If so, then you are loving mammon rather than God.

Your money is what you are really devoted to rather than God.

You will be judged a worthless servant.

Let me try to say it one other way.

On Judgment Day, if God said to you, “I will now be as generous to you in my judgment as you have been with the mammon that I have given to you throughout your life” would that be a comforting thought or a frightening thought?

Even if He included the generosity that you showed to make yourself look good, even if He included what you gave to others only because you knew you’d receive it back, would that be a comforting thought or a frightening thought?

That is the test in a nutshell.

What the “shrewd” manager did for selfish reasons, you should be doing by your very nature as a child of God.

Today is your warning to be shrewd.

Repent.

Preparing for Your Judge

There is one point here that is even greater that we must be careful not to miss.

What’s really shocking is the fact that the master commends the shrewd manager.

That is something we must not overlook.

Because it makes a very powerful statement about what kind of person that master is.

This steward was in the same situation— on a much lower level— that all of us are in.

…We’re looking at the future; we’re looking at the eschaton; we’re looking at the judgment; we’re looking at standing before the master, right?

What are we gonna do?

What are we going to count on as the means of ensuring that we have a future?

In this case, in the parable, he counted on the mercy of his master.

And he acted wisely in doing so.

And the merciful master commended him.

What do we do?

When we face the judgment of God, when we face the judge of the living and the dead, what can we do?

There’s really only one option for us, too: we are to act wisely, shrewdly.

We will throw ourselves upon His mercy— the mercy of our master.

Because, as it turns out, our judge has nail marks in his hands; our judge is the one who was willing to die for us; our judge is the very incarnation of mercy.

So we throw ourselves upon the mercy of Jesus Christ.