The Story Of A Dishonest Man Series

Jesus tells a most peculiar parable in His day, the Story of a Dishonest Man. It’s is widely considered one of the most difficult parables – if not the most difficult – to understand. And it’s not hard to see why. Jesus’ story got me thinking about a pastor I read about who misled a church out in California. Joshua Sims was the pastor of Double Rock Baptist Church in Compton, California. Joshua was California born and raised and at the time of our story was 47 to 48 years old. He actually grew up in the very church he pastored for ten years. Yet, this pastor was arrested after an investigation into the church’s finances. News articles reported that he owned hundreds of tailored, Italian suits in addition to 60 pair of alligator skin and sports shoes. All the while he drove a $100,000 plus Mercedes-Benz to his home that had an indoor, cedar-paneled pool. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see where this is going. At the time of his arraignment, the former pastor pleaded no-contest to the charges of embezzling $800,000.

Or take Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff… who’s sitting in jail serving a 150-year prison term at the age of 76. The disgraced finance expert’s two sons are now dead. The oldest son, Mark, hanged himself on the second anniversary (2010) of his father’s arrest. While the younger son, Andrew, died because of a cancer relapse (September 3, 2014) that he stated was due to the stress and shame of the scandal. Madoff first confessed to his two sons that everything was “one big lie” and lost $65 billion dollars of other people’s money.

Terrible tragedies… both of these stories – one inside a church and the other just within feet of Wall Street.

Yet, when I read you today’s biblical story, you’re going to think Jesus pulled this story off the newswire and promptly told His followers, “I want you to act like this guy.” Jesus is giving us a positive lesson from a negative example. Even sinners have something to teach us.

Let’s dig in… Page 1113 in the black books, the pew Bibles, in front of you.

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. 2 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.’ 3 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. 4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ 5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 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.’ 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. 9 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.” (Luke 16:1-9)

Parables were Jesus’ favorite method to teach. Over the course of these four weeks, I’m inviting you to examine with me four parables of Jesus inside the gospel of Luke. Each of these represents a small story with a big truth. Now, Jesus taught in parables to disarm his listeners, and by doing so He was able to penetrate any hardness of heart or resistance to what He is saying. A good story has strong characters and Jesus’ story has a despicable character for us today – a dishonest man.

The one, big lesson Jesus wants to teach you today is found at the end of verse 2: “Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.” (Luke 16:2b) The first part applies to everyone of us and the second part will apply to each one of us before long. Jesus tells us a story of a dishonest employee where He puts His arms around this dishonest man and tells us to act like him.

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A Story with a Twist

Three Life Lessons

1. A Story with a Twist

Out of all of the parables Jesus told, people find this one the most puzzling. The story has three scenes. The first scene is the interaction between the rich man and his manager (verses 1-2). The second scene is between the manager and the people who are in debt to the rich man (verses 3-7). And the last scene is the rich man’s surprising reaction (verse 8). But let’s walk through the story because I want you to feel just how surprising the twist at the end really is. A rich man has someone watching over his estate – a common practice in Jesus’ day. Soon reports come to the rich man’s ears and they’re not good. It seems that the manager, the steward, is wasting his money. We’re not sure how this happens – is he in Vegas gambling? Or is the manager simply failing to work diligently to find the best price thinking the rich man has an endless supply of money? Either way, the manager is wasting someone else’s money.