This morning, as we are about to enter our Missions Month, we will look into investing in eternity. Let us read the parable of the shrewd steward at Luke 16:1-13.[1] We will look at what is dubbed as one the most difficult parables of the Lord. There are those who accuse the Lord of praising dishonesty in this parable. But, I think they missed the point of this parable. It is not because the parable is hard to understand but because it is hard to accept. Parables are called earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Usually, a parable has one moral lesson or one big idea. Keep that in mind as we look into this story so we can glean “Good Lessons From A Bad Example.”
The first lesson we learn from this parable is that money has the POWER to impact our future. We are not just talking of our future here on earth. We are talking here even of our future there in heaven.
Allow me to add a disclaimer. To our new friends today, the topic today is for the members and regular attendees of Makati Gospel Church. You may learn from this but the message is not aimed at you. We take money matters seriously in this church and we seek to follow what the Bible teaches us on how to handle our finances. We are not teaching this to enrich ourselves. We just want to obey the Lord even in our resources. Thank you for understanding.
Verse one says, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.” Note that in verse 6 it says that one person owed him eight hundred gallons of olive oil and in verse 9 another owed him one thousand bushel of wheat. That was not a small-time business. This rich man was an oil and wheat magnate!
Then, he got someone to manage his business. “In Jesus’ day managers were often hired by wealthy people to care for the finances of their estates. Such a manager would be comparable to a modern-day financial planner or trustee who controls the finances of an estate for the purpose of making more money for that estate.”[2] But, then the rich man found out that his manager was squandering his money. So, he called for a full-scale audit. In verse two, we read his order: “Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.”
It appears the accusation was true. He was guilty as charged. It was not a wrongful termination. Verse three shows that he thought more of his life after termination rather than proving his innocence: “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’”. He knew that once the audit publicly exposed his guilt, no one would hire him anymore. He would end up doing menial jobs. But he wasn’t strong enough. Worse than that, he would be reduced to a beggar. But he was too proud to do that.
So, he came up with a scheme to secure his future. Look at verses 4 to 7: “I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ 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.’” He gave huge discounts left and right! Can he really do that? Constable explains, “The agent could well have received a commission for each of the transactions that he had negotiated for his employer and deducted these commissions from the debtors’ costs.”[3] Can you imagine that? The fact that he can afford to give up to 50% discount off was because that’s how much he padded the prices of these commodities. That shows that he took up to 100% commission. He gave up his commissions. Now, by giving them substantial discounts, he won the favor of his master’s debtors “so that, when [he] lose [his] job here, people will welcome [him] into their houses.” They owe him now. So, in a sense, the manager did not really lose. The commissions he gave up can be considered investments.
Because of what he did, verse 8 says, “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.” That’s the punch line of the parable. This is where people thought the Lord commended his corruption. No, he was not praised for his dishonesty but for his decisive action to secure his future by investing in it. This was a case of a good lesson out of a bad example. The manager acted with foresight. “Jesus did not commend the steward for robbing his master or for encouraging others to be dishonest. Jesus commended the man for his wise use of opportunity.”[4] The Lord made a lesser to greater argument. If those who do not believe in God can prepare for their temporal future, then how much more those who do believe in Him could also prepare for their eternal future.
We buy properties and we save money to secure our future here on earth. Jesus had a better idea. Invest your resources for eternity. That’s why He commanded us in verse 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.” That doesn’t mean to buy people or relationships. The friends that you would gain are those who heard the Gospel because you made it possible. “The result, Jesus said, will be that at the eternal dwellings, those friends will greet and forever thank you for the sacrifices you made to get them to the Father’s heavenly home. It will bring an eternal bond of friendship.”[5] Money really has the power to impact our future. It can make an eternal difference.
But, we have a limited opportunity. Note the words “so that when it is gone” in verse 9. That means we must invest our money while it still has value. And it only has value while we live. When we die, it has no value at all to us. For example, we buy stocks during an initial public offering because we know that the price would go up later on. But, we immediately try to unload it as soon as possible because usually the price would level off after it reached its peak. If we don’t do that, we could end up with stocks that would barely increase and could even decrease in value. It’s the same with our earthly treasures as far as heavenly investments are concerned. “Even though money will fail us when we die, those whom we have led to salvation will not die.”[6] So, let us impact our future with our resources.
The second lesson we learn from this parable is that how we handle our money PROVES our faithfulness and focus in life. Luke 16:10-13 tell us, “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. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.” Next week, we will discuss this second lesson more in-depth.
Now, one way of proving our faithfulness and focus in life is through our giving. It’s not limited to giving but definitely it includes giving. This morning, I would like to challenge you to invest, that is, use your present resources to powerfully influence the future. Let me present before you the “I Invest Manifesto.” I am indebted to the First Baptist Church of Dallas for this manifesto. Please prayerfully read this. Let us read it together:
“MY I INVEST MANIFESTO
“I Invest in Makati Gospel Church because I am a manager of God’s resources, not an owner. I Invest in Makati Gospel Church because God’s Word encourages me to invest a percentage of His resources in His work. I Invest in Makati Gospel Church because beyond obedience to God’s command, His love compels me to give. I Invest in Makati Gospel Church because it will help Makati Gospel Church fulfill its mission and vision for Christ.”
On the third Sunday of the month, I will ask you to sign this as a commitment before the Lord. Let us read this together:
“I believe in the biblical precept of honoring the Lord through giving to the church.” In our “Investing in Eternity” series, we will look into how we can honor the Lord through our giving.
In view of that faith declaration, please prayerfully consider making one or more of these commitments.
First, if you have not yet practiced tithing or giving 10% of your income to the Lord, you check the first box. “I commit to grow in my giving by starting to give a tithe or 10% of my income to the church.”
Second, if you are already giving your tithes, I would like to challenge you to check the next box. “I commit to grow in my giving by increasing the percentage of my giving to the church.” So, if you are giving 10%, as the Lord leads, you may add 1%, 2% or more to your giving. So, if you are giving 10% and you feel led to give 1% more, then you would commit to give 11% to the Lord.
Third, this month is our Missions month. Here we ask you to support our Missions Fund so we can help other Christian organizations. Let me clarify that we are not supposed to divert our tithes to this fund. That would defeat its purpose. Our pledge for the Missions Fund is over and above our regular giving. If the Lord also leads you on this, check the last box that says, “I commit to grow in my giving by supporting the mission fund of the church.” Then, fill out the separate commitment form.
There is no pressure to do it now. I ask you to bring this home and pray about it. I believe this is a matter between you and the Lord. For our new friends today, let me repeat that this is not for you. However, there is one preparation for the future that you have to make. That is, God loves us. But, because of our sins, we fail to experience His love for us. However, He sent His Son, our Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. On the third day, He rose from the dead as proof that God accepted His payment for our sins. We need to accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
There was a man who got shipwrecked. He landed on an island, where a tribe welcomed him. To his surprise, they showered him with gifts and made him their king. They pledged to serve whatever his wishes are. Then, he learned that he is king only for a year. It is the tradition of the tribe that, after a year of being king, he will be exiled to a deserted island to die there.
But, he is a wise man. Early on, he ordered a team to go to that island and to start planting. When they harvested, he had them store it there. He then had them bring livestock and raise chickens, sheep and cows there. In the middle of his term, he sent another team to build his house on that island. In the last quarter of his term, he sent some of his friends over to that island.
When his term as king ended, he happily accepted his exile and went to that island, no longer deserted, no longer a place where he is supposed to die, but a haven where he will enjoy life with his friends.
Brothers and sisters, we cannot bring our money with us when we die. But we can send it ahead of us while we are still alive. Let us use our present resources to influence, to make a great impact, to make a lasting difference for our future, for eternity.
Let us pray…
[1]All Bible verses are from the New International Version, unless otherwise noted. I owe a lot to Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, and Dr. Chip Ingram of Living on the Edge (for his series, “The Genius of Generosity”) for the development of this message.
[2]John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures.
[3]Notes on Luke 2008 Edition. Available from http://soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/luke.pdf.
[4]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, "An Exposition of the New Testament Comprising the Entire ’BE’ Series".
[5]Stanley A. Ellisen, “Parables in the Eye of the Storm.”
[6]Constable.
