Shrewd Steward: Lessons from Luke 16 on Money and Faith

Well, we're in Luke again today. We're in chapter 16, and today we're looking

at about the first 13 verses pretty much today, and we'll finish up through

31, Lord willing, next week or the week after.

But we're talking about spending decisions, if you will.

You know, in Luke 15, it contains some of Jesus's most famous and accessible parables, right?

Chapter 16 contains some of the most obscure and confusing.

I'm being honest with you. The so-called parable that we're looking at today

of the shrewd tenet, it's not a confusing story per se.

But some of the application that Jesus makes can seem puzzling,

especially at a cursory glance, right?

And first of all, one of those that I want to talk about today with us is dishonesty commended.

Is dishonesty commended here? Well, let's look.

In verse 1, the disciples are introduced to a rich man whose manager was accused

of what? Of wasting his possessions.

The word there actually, Eastwood, that's translated as wasting,

it's the same one that we saw back in chapter 15, verse 13, to describe,

you guessed it, the younger sons and the prodigal son, his squandering of his

wealth or that wasting of his wealth, right? That same word.

And a manager was typically a servant who was responsible for actually overseeing

the operation of the entire household, basically.

And so it was imperative, y'all, to have a person who was both competent and

trustworthy in that position, right?

And so we're not told what this particular manager has done,

you know, to occasion reports of his mismanagement, but there must be some truth

to the acquisitions, right?

For when he's confronted by his master, as we read earlier in verse 2 of chapter

16, he does not bother to defend himself. Did you notice that?

Instead, what does he do? Well, he hatches a scheme.

He knows both that he cannot retain his current position and.

And that some options, which as you read there, manual labor,

he's saying is not an option, and begging, he didn't want to beg after he loses his job, right?

They're not suitable for him, it says in verse 3.

So he comes up with this plan, y'all, that will ensure that people will welcome

him into their homes once he's lost his employment, in verse 4.

You know, he wants some people to kind of show him a little favor here,

right, once he loses his job.

And so his scheme actually begins, as we see in this passage,

with calling in each of his master's debtors, and he's asking them how much they owe him.

Verse 5, we saw that. Most likely, these are well-off businessmen who've contracted

to farm the master's land, and in return for which they actually owe him a portion of the produce.

But the manager here most likely asked them to declare the amount of their debt.

Not because, get this today, not because he's unaware of the amount,

but as we see in this first point, because he wants them to be accomplices to

the deceit that's about to unfold. Did you see that?

Because of their complicity here, they will be much more likely to help him,

once he loses his job, right, in his time of need.

So the first debtor look at it he owes 900

gallons or 3 000 you know

liters of oil verse 6 talks about literally 100 baths of oil as we read and

i want y'all to know that's that's roughly the yearly amount that would be produced

by 150 olive trees or here put it more in perspective three years of wages for a.

Okay. And since he's not yet lost his employment, the manager here still has

the authority to negotiate agreements with his master's clients.

And so he offers the man a deal that is too good to pass up.

You see it there in the scripture.

He will approve a new note for how much of the original amount?

Half. I mean, half the debt gone, right?

I mean, and they're signing all this new paperwork. The second debtor owes 1,000

bushels or 30 tons of wheat. Look at it, verse 7, literally 100 cores of wheat.

And that represents the yearly yield of 100 acres, or almost,

get this, a decade's worth of wages for a laborer.

We're talking about serious stuff here, right?

And that extraordinary sum, by the way, They may explain why this particular

man receives a relatively smaller discount.

You see, his discount was like 20% to the 50% of the first one.

But both debtors, I want you to see this, through no effort of their own,

they actually, in this parable, receive a discount worth roughly about a year

and a half to two years' worth of salary for an average worker.

So we can assume here that the manager continues this pattern with all of the master's debtors.

So what is he doing by doing this? Don't lose sight of this.

He is, you know, putting himself in a position with this large group of people

who now might feel obligated to extend hospitality toward him in his time of

need that's about to come up, right?

That's why he's concocted this whole scheme. And by virtue of this stunt here,

it seems that the manager, he fails every test in the dispatch of his office, right?

I mean, it's just like, you know, you wouldn't want him to serve in this position.

But as a result, all of us sitting here reading this to start with,

we might well expect in the readers of the day that the master would agree that

the servant scheme, you know, he would meet it with anger.

And perhaps even some form of retribution at what he's done.

After all, think about it. This stunt has cost him somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000.

But when the matter is discovered, as we see in this next point,

the master actually, what did he do? Look there.

He commended the dishonest manager because he had acted, what?

Shrewdly. In verse 8. And y'all, I don't know if it came as a shock to you,

but certainly this is a shock.

I mean, why would the master praise his servant for being unrighteous and dishonest?

That's a question that may pop up.

Well, potential explanations for the master's reaction are out there.

I'm going to share a few with you. I mean, some people say that,

look at this, some scholars, well, the reduction of the debt makes the master

look generous and enhances his honor in the eyes of the debtors.

But that's unlikely. Okay, I just want you to know that.

Because the managers, you know, his manner there, that manager in his place,

he tells them actually to forge new documents very quickly in verse 6.

So this is kind of a scheme, right? Definitely. And it would communicate clearly

to the debtors that he's acting without the approval of his employer.

You see that. And then another thought, well, the master must pretend to have authorized the scheme.

Otherwise, he'll be shamed by his lack of control over his household. He's lost control.

That is possible, but it just seems, if we go back to verses 1 and 2,

y'all, it seems to indicate that the master's problems with this servant are

already public knowledge.

It's not a secret. And then another thought is the reduction of each debt is

in reality just expunging the amount of interest maybe that the master is charging

them in violation of the law of Moses.

Maybe he's breaking the law of Moses and this guy's just trying to bring it, you know, more in line.

So the manager's dishonesty is actually a way they would say of bringing the

business into compliance with God's will.

But y'all, I want you to know that may be some people's thought,

but if you look at scripture and you study this, that's technically,

it's possible, but it's hard to imagine the master charging 100% interest on his loans,

especially in light of the law of that prohibition, right? So that's highly unlikely.

But the amount by which each debt is reduced in this parable is really the manager's

personal commission, some people would say, meaning that he's only given away his own money.

That's also unlikely because as we read in context here, such astronomical sums

here seems like an excessive commission. That doesn't seem to apply at all.

And this will, you know, it's not going to explain either why the servant acts

so secretly here or why his behavior is labeled here as literally unrighteous. Do you see it? Verse 8.

So it's not right. What he's doing is wrong.

And in the end, we're probably best simply to be content with Jesus's explanation

for the master's positive reaction.

As we see in this next point, look what he says. For the people of this world

are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light, in verse 8.

The master's approval, in other words, is not a reward for dishonesty,

but it's a tip of a hat to the servant's shrewdness.

You get it? His shrewdness. In terms of sheer self-preservation,

the scoundrel, if you will, he cannot be outfoxed.

He's gone to great length here in this parable to

secure his own interest do you see it the master could choose to be angry about

this development obviously but he can't do anything about it at this point so

he might as well admire the man's shrewdness so think about that shrewdness

is the key so that brings us to another question.

Shrewd disciples? I told you this parable is different, okay? Hang with me.

Some Christians have struggled with this parable because it seems that on the

surface, again, that Jesus is commending dishonesty and theft in the service of self-interest.

That's not it at all. And obviously, we should know that because of God's character.

But we would do well, I think, to remember that interpreting the parables often

requires us to separate out one or two main points. while leaving behind some

of the details of the story.

Because the very nature of telling a story in order to make a point,

which is what this is, means that some things in the story are not literally

true or not relevant on their own.

But there are details that are, I guess you would say, subordinate to the bigger point here.

For example, I want you all to think about this.

Think about the parable of the great banquet. Do you remember the one we studied back in chapter 14?

Let me ask you a question. That banquet, that God is taken off guard when people

refuse his invitation, is that how we would look at that?

Or that the author of a place at his end time feast is only offered to lowly

people as an afterthought? No.

He was making a point there that those are the people he came for, right?

And as we've seen that the specific lesson that Jesus is teaching relates to

the way that the Pharisees respond to God here or fail to, and the way that

they view those who do respond to God.

This is why, y'all, Jesus can use images like an unjust judge or a thief in

the night to make a point about how God will act.

He's not saying that everything that is true about that person in the parable is true of God.

Instead, he's trying to show how one aspect of the behavior of the judge in

that instance, or the thief, is really, I would say, analogous,

if you will, to God's actions.

And in the same way, I want you all to see this today, we are safe to conclude,

I think here, that Jesus is not commending dishonesty. We know that by the attributes

of God and by the character of God.

He's not commending dishonesty to his disciples. That's not the point.

Instead, don't miss it. He's commending to us a specific aspect,

if you will, of the manager's actions. What was that again?

Shrewdness. Without condoning or encouraging all the other things the manager

does, obviously, because he's described this act as unrighteous,

right? But his shrewdness.

And at the end of verse 8 in chapter 16 that we read earlier,

Jesus actually drives home his point.

The people who belong to the world and all of its values, literally the sons

of this age, he says in the text, know how to get what they want from other

people through clever planning and activity as well, right?

And as we see in this next point, God's children, literally the sons of light,

however, sometimes fail to see how they can shrewdly use the things of this

world to their spiritual advantage.

They're going to look at careful details. Sometimes we fail to see that.

How can we shrewdly use something for kingdom purposes? How can we look at this?

The citizens of the world know

how to take care of their needs and to make sure they get what they need.

The dishonest steward behaves wisely according to the world's standards, right?

And the world's values. And so if you look at this parable in an analogous way,

Jesus wants his followers here to behave wisely and according to the standards

and values of whose kingdom?

His kingdom, God's kingdom, God's kingdom. And as we see in this next point,

we are to be, church, kingdom shrewd, if you will, with everything at our disposal.

In other words, we're checking it out. We're going in detail.

We're looking at how to, that we can best pull this apart, how we can take advantage

of this to do something righteous, not unrighteous.

And Jesus applies this principle specifically to the way that his followers, are you ready for this?

Use their worldly wealth.

You know, that's a phrase that's found both in verse 9 and verse 11,

literally, mammon of unrighteousness.

That phrase, y'all, it does not indicate wealth that is obtained through illicit means.

For Jesus assumes here that his followers will have worldly wealth in their possessions, right?

Instead here, we should understand that Jesus is referring to the kind of wealth,

as we see in this next slide, that belongs to this unrighteous world.

This first point, he's not talking about treasures in heaven,

but the cash and coins that drive so much of our daily life, right, here on earth.

Because that kind of wealth, according to verse 9, you know what, church?

That kind of wealth will fail you.

Think about it. It will fail you. It's not a matter of when,

if you look in this passage.

It will be gone, not if it will be gone, but Jesus actually urges his disciples

to use it shrewdly while it lasts.

Whether through natural disaster, think about it, natural disaster, theft,

market fluctuations, you name it, whatever, or simply the expiration of our

life here on earth, there will come a time when our wealth will disappear one

way or the other. You do get that, right?

Like the manager in this parable, you're coming up on a day,

I'm coming up on a day where this current state of affairs will be over.

The question is whether you and I will use the resources that we have at hand,

whatever worldly wealth you might have, to prepare yourself for the future.

In fact, Jesus wants you and I to act how?

Shrewdly now in order to secure your own best interest on that future day.

Use the money now, in other words, to prepare yourself for the future.

You know, Jesus's specific instruction is to use this wealth to what?

Look at it. Now, I told you this is a difficult parable. What does he say here?

Gain friends for yourselves.

That's to say, as we see in this next point, we should live,

church, with the kind of generosity that is attractive to other people.

After all, you probably know this, generous people usually have lots of friends.

One of the blessings of these friendships is that when your money fails,

when it fails you, which it will, it's not a matter of if, you know,

when, right, it's going to, when your money fails you, you'll be welcomed,

it says here, into eternal dwellings.

Think about this for a moment. Who are the ones doing the welcoming in verse

9 into eternal dwellings?

Y'all see this? This parable is not easy, right? Y'all kind of see it's a little bit different.

Well, there's some possible options to who's doing the welcoming here.

The they there represents the friends one made on earth is one option.

If they proceed us to heaven, they'll welcome us there when we arrive.

And then another option may be that the they represents God's angels who welcomes

us into heaven on behalf of God.

That's another view. And then the they is just an oblique way of referring to

God himself who rewards the one whose love for him moves him to generosity.

Whatever referent is correct there, and to me, the first is the most natural

way to read this parable, by the way.

The point is the same, though, as we see on this next slide.

Be generous now so as to accrue benefit in heaven.

Who knows how our acts of service, our faithful sharing of the gospel,

and our generosity might impact other people's lives, church,

and result in a warm welcome in heaven. Do you see that?

Well, then we move on this morning in this different parable to investment advice, investment advice.

Luke actually rounds out the

themes of the parable with some of Jesus's other teachings about money.

Money, by the way, people hear that word. I mean, that's a personal topic, right?

Money. The larger point of these teachings here is that the way we handle our worldly wealth.

Such wealth being something of relatively little eternal importance,

by the way, is a matter of eternal significance the way we handle it.

The person who's honest with a little, according to verse 10,

will be honest with what?

Much, right? And as we see in this first point here, but if we can't be trusted

to handle worldly wealth, God will not trust us. Do you see it here?

With true, or that is heavenly riches. right with true riches heavenly riches in verse 11.

So we like the manager

in the parable our stewards get it today don't miss this of another's wealth

whose wealth whose wealth god's well brother judd i thought that god only got

10 or 20 or five whatever right i thought this was God's.

No, you missed the point. It's all God's.

We, like the manager in the parable, we're stewards of another's wealth,

of God's wealth that he's blessed us with.

Some a little, some a lot, but we got to get this today.

All of our money, so to speak, is from God.

Now you watch today out in our culture and even sometimes in our churches,

You wouldn't think that sometimes, but all of our money is from God.

We're to use it, according to verse 12, in a trustworthy manner.

Or else we should not expect property of our own, it says, to come.

Just look at 1 Corinthians 6, 2, and 2 Corinthians 5, 10.

Because in the end, y'all, our relationship to money is one of love and service.

Because money is so powerful and seductive. Get this today.

We're easily tempted to what? To give our whole lives in service to it.

Money can purchase. Think about this today. Money can purchase access to the

best food and medicine. It can insulate us from the veracity sometimes of the

market, all that kind of stuff.

And it can open the door, as we say in this next point, to the most exciting experiences.

In other words, think about it today, church.

It gives us, money gives us a measure of safety, security, and happiness that

can seem much more tangible and immediate than God's provision of all those things for his people.

You see, and we're headed to that verse, you can't serve two masters, right?

I think I've shared this before, but y'all notice we live in a microwave society, right?

Everybody, you know, it's just like, put it in, you know, two minutes,

that's a long time, right?

We got all the fast food. We got this, that, and the other. We want everything instantly.

No delayed gratification or anything like that. And for those reasons,

money makes a powerful competitor.

To God's claim on our hearts and lives, because God is the one who provides y'all.

God is the one who gives us health to work, right? He's the one that allows

us to open the door for you to get a job where maybe you have been blessed or

maybe will be blessed, whatever it is.

But you've got the miser, which you know, that's the person who just hoards everything, right?

You ever know the order. You know, it's like we just build it up.

You know, you hoard everything. You never do anything. It's just you're hoarding

it. Then you have the workaholic.

Workaholic, work, work, work, work. Nothing else is more important than making

money. What about the overspender?

See it, you know, got to have it. You know, it's kind of like,

you know, you're spending money like eating chocolate, right?

You have a down day and it's like, instead of popping the chocolate,

you know, you order something from Amazon.

Well, the person who spends a great portion of their time worrying about their

finances, each lives in service to unrighteous wealth.

In a sense, it's worldly wealth, right? The Pharisees, I want y'all to see this.

The Pharisees fell into this category in verse 14 of this passage.

We didn't read this when this was the next verse after what we finished with this morning.

But in verse 14, it leads us to that. And so they could do nothing but sneer

at Jesus. Do you see it there in verse 14?

They could do nothing but sneer at Jesus's teaching.

Their service to the master of mammon or worldly wealth meant that there was

no room in their lives for them to serve who?

No room to serve God because all their trust, all their value,

all their love, all their worship was found in worldly unrighteous wealth.

As we see in this next slide, their hearts were committed to one master,

what was it money and so without realizing it they had grown to despise the other god in verse 13,

our finances eastwood represents one important arena in which our discipleship

is played out right you can view it this way our bank statement will reveal

the things that we truly love.

We can pay lip service to generosity towards the things of God,

but the one who sees our hearts, it says in verse 15 here in this passage,

knows perfectly well whether we love him or our money.

Are we using it shrewdly for the kingdom or does it have our hearts?

Is that what we really love?

Do we love that? Is that number one in our life, right? Is it all about the

American dream instead of kingdom dream?

This is a struggle, right? This is a struggle. That's why we don't interpret

these teachings in just a mercenary way.

And what I mean by that is if Jesus is telling us that we can buy God's approval

by cutting a check to the church.

That's not what he's saying. No, not at all.

God is after our hearts, Eastwood, and our love.

Come on. He's after our hearts and our love.

As we see in this next slide, he wants followers whose hearts have been made

generous by the incredible generosity that God has shown to them. Wow.

Being shrewd about the kingdom of God.

You know, I've heard stories, y'all, seriously, people who actually,

you know, you think of the mission field, you think, okay, you go to Africa,

that's wonderful, that's great, deepest jungles of Africa, but there are some

people who actually move and leverage their gifts and their talents and what

God has blessed them to do in this world.

They actually seek out a job in a certain location so they can actually be a

missionary there. Did you know that?

They leverage, they think shrewdly about the kingdom and its values.

They plan carefully. They think shrewdly about the wealth that God has blessed

them with, and they leverage it all to the kingdom of God.

And that's really what's at play here, y'all. If God is our master,

he is our savior, he's our Lord, the one who has been so generous to us to cancel

a debt that we could never repay.

He said, it's finished on the cross. Death's canceled. It's paid in full.

He paid it with his life's blood.

Now that we've been treated so generously, even that worldly wealth that God

blesses people with, are we using it shrewdly for kingdom work?

Do you ever view your job or what you do, your vocation, your calling,

that voca, the call, the calling? You ever view that as being leveraged for kingdom work?

I think today, as we look at this parable, that is somewhat different.

And we see Jesus commending this unrighteous manager for his shrewdness.

You know, we can learn something here about being shrewd in God's kingdom.

And today, that might be you thinking in your heart as we stand together this morning.

You close your eyes just a moment, stand together. But you may be thinking this

morning, you know, maybe today,

you know, Brother Judd, that, you know, really, if ever looking at my bank statements,

it probably is going to tell a different story than my heart being sold for

kingdom purposes or leveraging the wealth that God has blessed me with for kingdom things.

You know, another area is our calendar. Our calendar reflects who we really love.

You can tell a lot about an individual by how full and what's on their calendar, right?

Tell a lot about us by what's coming out of our bank accounts every month and

where that wealth that God has blessed us with is going toward.

Again, this is not about cutting a check to the church.

This is about leveraging everything God has blessed you with for kingdom stuff.

That can be through various means.

But the bottom line is your heart, does your heart belong to God?

Is he your first love? That's it. That's the question today.

Is he your first love?

Or is he just an afterthought? Are you consumed with this world's riches?

Are you consumed with the American dream?

Are you consumed with God's kingdom?

And God's generosity to you? That's the question.

Father God, this morning I pray during these moments, Lord, We just ask that

we all respond to you faithfully.

God, whether that's a repentant heart or whether that's, you know,

just a decision today to say, Lord, I want to put you as the master of my life.

Lord, I surrender to you.

You're the master, not just over my time on Sunday morning or Wednesday nights

or Sunday night, but Lord, it's 24-7.

Lord, that means that, Lord, you're even master over my budget.

Over everything that you've blessed me with. That may be some heart today.

I pray you'd move in a mighty way in Jesus' name.