JUST JESUS: CHAPTER BY CHAPTER THRU LUKE
Principles from a Parable We Don’t Like
LUKE 16:1-13
#justJesus
INTRODUCTION… Shrewd Sailor-King (source unknown)
Once upon a time there was a sailor who was washed ashore on a remote Pacific Island. The natives he met made him king over the island. However, as he came to understand their language and customs, he found that he was to be king for a year and then left by himself to starve to death on another nearby island and then the next king would be chosen. This sailor-become-king sent some of his servants over to the second island to till the soil. Later he commanded them to take seeds and put them in the ground. Still later, he ordered his favorite items taken to the island and stored. As a result, when his fateful day came—instead of going to a place of starvation and death, it was a place of prosperity because of his investment.
We hear a story like that and immediately we have a reaction. Maybe we want to email it or post it out to everyone we know and tell people if they don’t share it with others, then a tragedy will befall them. Maybe we also hear a story like that and we think… what a wise man for preparing well and being slick and thinking ahead. In our world today, we also think… the sailor must have been an entitled jerk because he went in there and trashed their native culture and made himself king and worked the system for his benefit. We shake our heads and wonder at some people.
Stories can have positive impacts on us and also can have negative impacts on us. For the most part, the parables of Jesus are positive and help us spiritually. There is one or two we are not so sure about and are very challenging. The one we will look at today is one of those we have deep questions on. Let’s read from the beginning of Luke 16.
READ LUKE 16:1-15 (ESV)
“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. 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. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 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.”
TRANSITION
This parable is one of those that we do not often understand because of a misreading or misinterpretation in verses 8-9. We think we read something that we really do not. Let’s take a look at this parable of Jesus and get His point correct in our minds and apply it to our hearts.
THE SITUATION
I think that this parable is one of those Jesus told to make a very specific point. In fact, I don’t even think that Jesus had to make this story up because it is plausible that it could have happened. It could be that Jesus was telling His disciples about some events between a rich man and his manager to help drive home a lesson for them and for us about priorities. It would almost have to be based on real events because in the story the rich man commends his manager for being dishonest which feels like something a person might actually do. We know that’s not something Jesus would have in a story of His own, but He is using this story for a very specific reason. Whether or not Jesus made up the parable or describes something that actually happened, the point remains the same.
Our story centers on a steward in the services of a rich man. A steward is a manager. This manager probably functioned much like Joseph did in the Old Testament in Potiphar’s house in Genesis 39 or even Doeg the Edomite for King Saul in 1 Samuel 21 or Higgins in Magnum PI (1980, 2018). He was the supervisor over meals, household finances, other servants, flocks and herds, and tilling of the fields. He managed much He was pretty much the #2 man over the estate of the rich man. It was the area of finance that he came into trouble. He was accused of wasting his master’s resources and faced an audit and a dismissal. He lost his job because he was dishonest! We are talking embezzlement, fraud, misappropriation of finances, and negligence.
I can imagine him shrinking to a corner by himself trying to figure out what he should do. For him, there is no unemployment line to go stand in to get help. There is no union. There is no way to immediately get another job given that probably his reputation is even trashed. Once he’s fired he’s on his own. He thinks and thinks and then has a plan. He calls in several of the men who owe his master and reduces the amount that they owe him. The picture we get is that he probably does this for everyone who owes his master money.
Make no mistake, he does this to make friends. He decides that if all of these farmers and businessmen and vendors and debtors owed him favors then when all is said and done that these people would surely take him in or give him a job when he’s on the street. He helped them out and so they should in return help him out.
The master then gets wind of what this man has done and commends him for being shrewd. The master saw that even though he was firing this manager, this manager had prepared places for himself to go and used his influence for his own gain. It feels like Jesus’ parable is about a dishonest man who is commended for being even more dishonest and we aren’t sure what to do with that.
THE COMPLICATION
The complication and the problem are that we don’t really understand what this parable
means because it feels like Jesus is using a dishonest person to teach a spiritual truth. That doesn’t make much sense to us and it does not sound like Jesus. We often have lots of questions when it comes to this passage:
What does this parable explain to us about Jesus?
What does this parable mean for us and money?
What does this parable teach us about priorities?
What does “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth” mean from Jesus?
What is the point of the parable?
Jesus Christ shares the parable in verses 1-8 and then in verses 8-9 adds the thought that the businessmen of his day, the sons of this world, were more wise, bold, and forward-thinking in the management of what they had than the people of God, the sons of light, were with managing what they had. It feels like Jesus says the evil sons of this world are better than the good sons of light. That is a strange statement coming from Jesus Christ.
It feels like Jesus used an obviously dishonest man as an example for His disciples. Yet, God sometimes uses evil things familiar to us to illustrate a point. The Apostle Paul used things like war and slavery as illustrations of the Christian life and it makes us uncomfortable, but we get his point. What is Jesus’ point?
TRANSITION
What do we do with this parable?
THE RESOLUTION
The key to understanding the whole parable in verses 1-8 and the strange statements of
Jesus in verses 8-9 is Jesus explanation in verses 10-13. We need to understand that most of the time when we have questions about the Bible or something that Jesus teaches, context is always helpful. The verses before it and after it are always helpful. Context.
There are several principles that Jesus teaches from this dishonest manager.
PRINCIPLE #1: USE MONEY FOR SPIRITUAL GAIN
First, Jesus says “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth.” On the surface we may immediately think of having parties or buying our friends lavish gifts or taking people on vacation with us. We may think of those things. That was not what Jesus had in mind. Jesus meant to use our money properly by serving people. We have been trained to think that money goes towards buying things.
What about helping the homeless?
What about sending extra gifts of money to missionaries?
What about giving money to the local women’s shelter?
What about supporting a local youth organization that helps give kids direction in their life?
What about tithing to the church so it can reach out in the community?
What about spending money on people?
Jesus further explains in verse 10 (the context) that when we are faithful with little that we will be faithful with much and the opposite is also true. Consider that your job and income and wealth and money management are the little things and that spiritual matters are greater things. Jesus is teaching us to manage our earthly issues well so we can manage spiritual issues better. Jesus also teaches us that to mismanage our earthly issues means we also mis-manage spiritual issues.
Jesus’ words have a whole new meaning when we think of helping, sending, giving, supporting, tithing, and spending like that! Jesus is telling us to use our money to help people, and in that sense, we will be gaining friends. And when our money is all gone, we will have eternal riches because we literally and figuratively and spiritually invested in eternity.
ILLUSTRATION… beliefnet.com/entertainment/jokes/christian/i/i-dare-you.aspx
There is an old story about a church meeting where a very wealthy man rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian Faith. "I'm a millionaire," he said, "and I attribute my wealth to the blessings of God in my life." He went on to recall the turning point of his faith. As a young man he had just earned his first dollar and he went to a church meeting that night. At that meeting was a missionary who discussed his work. At the time of the offering to go to the work of this missionary, the wealthy man knew that he would either have to give it all to God or nothing at all. At that moment he decided to give all that he had to God. Looking back, he knew that God had blessed that decision and had made him wealthy. When he had finished there was an awed silence. As he moved to his seat and sat down a little old lady leaned over to him and said: "I dare you to do it again."
This is not the only time Jesus teaches this principle. He mentions this same Truth in the Sermon on the Mount:
READ MATTHEW 6:19-21 (ESV)
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
PRINCIPLE #2 (really 1b): LEVERAGE WHAT YOU GOT
In Jesus’ parable, the dishonest manager took advantage of his present position to arrange and leverage a comfortable future. Jesus’ assessment is true: the sons of this world are shrewder in their generation than the sons of light. The man leveraged what he had and what he knew for his future. He was commended by his manager for it.
ILLUSTRATION… Leverage TV Show (quotes.net/movies/leverage_104162)
Kelly and I used to watch a TV show called Leverage (2008-2012). It was a show about criminals helping people and doing good. It feels a little bit like Jesus’ parable. The opening of the show had a voice over which said: “The rich and powerful, they take what they want. We steal it back for you. Sometimes the bad guys make the best good guys. We provide… ‘leverage.’”
Leverage is powerful and influential and not necessarily tied to money and absolutely can be used for good. If we, the sons and daughters of light, pursued the Kingdom of God with the same vigor and zeal that the children of this world pursue profits and pleasure and manipulation, we would live in an entirely different world! This world knows how to advertise and distribute and catch attention and entertain and indoctrinate and get footholds and change culture. We should be the experts in all that because we have the Gospel! We have a message worth sharing! We need to leverage what we have for the Kingdom.
Being a servant of Jesus is not always about money. It is not always about using money for spiritual gain, but also about leveraging what you have for the Kingdom of God. It may be that you do not have extra money, but you might have a talent, passion, a skill, extra time, willingness to learn, or an expertise that God can and will use to spread the Good News about Jesus.
I could not help but see this principle working out in the life of the disciples. The Book of Acts is the story of the birth of the Church and the initial spread of the Gospel over the whole world. The third chapter finds the Apostle Peter and John face-to-face with a lame man. Now he is not lame because he is uncool, but was disabled from birth… that kind of lame. Note what happens.
READ ACTS 3:6-10 (ESV)
But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
The Apostle Peter leveraged what he had for the Kingdom. What do you have that you can leverage for the Kingdom? Art? Baking? Cooking? Organizing skills? Poetry? Playing an instrument? Mentoring? Singing? Extra time to serve? Leverage what you got for the Kingdom!
PRINCIPLE #3: YOU WILL BE CALLED TO ACCOUNT
Jesus tells a parable with a dishonest steward, but the dishonest steward does have an attitude that we also need to adopt. We should not adopt the cheating attitude or the entitlement to embezzle or the willingness to cheat our boss. We should not adopt the willingness to shortchange others for our own gain. He did, however, know that he would be called to account for his life and he took that seriously.
Christians should take seriously the idea that we will be called to account by God, and that idea can be a joy if we are properly about our Master’s business. Most of the time we wrongly think that those people who are Christians would somehow save us from Judgment Day. That is not true! Every single soul will have to stand before God and give an account of our lives and what we have said and done and not done and not said. Everyone will be judged!
We will stand before God and we will see that our fines and penalties in sin are just as high as everyone else. We who believe in Jesus will stand before God and hear about all our sin and it is going to be embarrassing. It will be soul-crushing. It will be emotionally-unbearable.
The Bible is full of verses which share with us that we are all beholden to God and responsible to Him with how we spend our time, energy, and money. Jesus says in verse 13 (the context) that it matters what master we serve.
What else does the Bible say?
READ MATTHEW 12:35-37 (ESV)
“The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
READ ROMANS 14:12 (ESV)
“So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
READ 2 CORINTHIANS 5:9-10 (ESV)
“So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
Those that are in Christ have an advantage. The advantage is that we know the Son of God. We intimately know the Judge and are prepared for our trial. Our fines and penalties are just as high as everyone else, but our fines and penalties have been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God our Lord and Savior! We who believe in Jesus will stand before God and hear about all our sin. It will be soul-crushing. It will be emotionally-unbearable. It also ultimately will have no condemnation or shame for us because we are in Christ!
READ ROMANS 8:1 (ESV)
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
SUMMARY
Luke 16 starts with a confusing parable that has some great principles for us. We are not to emulate the embezzlement of the manager, but we can take from it the overall point that it matters who we serve and what priorities we have in this life. It matters that we place Jesus as priority as well as the Kingdom of God when it comes to our money and talents. It matters how we use our money or if our money uses us. It matters that we wisely and shrewdly leverage our time, energy, talents, skills, building, for Jesus.
APPLICATION
How do we apply this parable?
* Use money for spiritual gain. If you don’t already, start. It is important that a believer in Jesus have a proper view of money and what is most important. Jesus teaches us to invest and spend on spiritual treasures rather than only on earthly ones.
* Leverage some time, a talent, or a skill for Jesus. If you don’t already, it is time to start. It is important that a believer in Jesus wisely share the Gospel in as many ways as possible using as many talents, skills, and opportunities as He has given.
INVITATION
I do not want to stop this morning without repeating the third principle that the parable shares with us. Each of us will give an account of himself or herself to God (Romans 14:12). It matters what we do and say. It matters how we sin. A broken relationship with God matters in this life and it absolutely matters in the next life.
I shall be blunt: When you stand before Almighty God, are you going to Heaven or are you going to Hell? Heaven is eternity with God and is accessed only by those who have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and live faithfully with Him. Jesus is the way. Without Him, there is no forgiveness. Hell is eternity without God and is accessed by everyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior and lives however they want. When accounts come due and it is clearly known you are a sinner, are you going to Heaven or are you going to Hell?
PRAYER
