Investing for Eternity

Good morning. Turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 16.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

We are continuing in our series through this middle section of Luke. It's Jesus

journeying with His disciples toward Jerusalem, toward His destiny of where He will be rejected

and crucified, but also raised to life again and glorified. But we're in this middle section of

Luke that we're going through, that we'll be in for another month or so, and includes many of Jesus'

teachings to His disciples. Teachings, and today we have a parable, chapter 16. We have two parables

about addressing that involve material possessions, and today we're looking at the first one, the

parable of the dishonest manager. So, I'm going to read chapter 16. I'm going to read verses 1 to 13,

and that's what we'll be looking at this morning. So, I invite you to read along with me.

Luke 16, beginning at verse 1.

He, Jesus, 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.

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. And the manager said to himself, what shall I do,

since my master is taking the management away from me? I'm not strong enough to dig.

I'm ashamed to beg. I've decided what to do, so that when I'm removed from management, people may

receive me into their houses. So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first,

how much do you owe my master? He said, a hundred measures of oil. He said to him, take your bill,

sit down quickly, and write fifty. 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. 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. 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. 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. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you

the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that

which is your own? 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.

How do we use our material possessions wisely in light of the future?

On the whole, Americans today are spending more in the present and saving less for the future.

In the 50s, 60s, and 70s, Americans saved on average 10% of their disposable personal income.

Today, figures vary, but Americans save half that amount or less.

And according to some studies, over half of American adults have less than $1,000 in readily available

savings, and many people are carrying large amounts of revolving debt.

On the other hand, there are smaller but growing movements like FIRE. Financial independence retire

early. Have you heard of this one? You can read blogs about how to live very frugally in your 20s and 30s,

commute by bicycle, sleep in your living room, and rent out your bedroom on Airbnb.

That way you can save half of your income through your 20s and 30s and retire in your 40s or even earlier.

Some people have done it. Most of them haven't had kids, or many of them, but some have done it.

Now, those are perhaps two ends of the spectrum, but they raise all kinds of questions.

How much should we save? For emergencies? For major purchases? For retirement?

How much debt is legitimate and wise to take on?

How do you make big financial decisions that are going to affect you for years?

And what kinds of habits are you cultivating by the thousand little choices that you make

every day without even thinking about it?

This morning, we're looking at one of Jesus' parables and some of Jesus' teachings about money,

and specifically about living wisely in light of the future.

Now, Jesus doesn't directly answer all of our 21st century American questions about money,

but he does give some enduring wisdom to us as his followers about managing our resources wisely.

What I want to do this morning is first to consider the meaning of Jesus' parable in verses 1 to 8,

and second to consider three applications of Jesus' teaching in verses 9 to 13.

So first, the meaning of Jesus' parable.

Now, this is a challenging parable to interpret.

One scholar put it this way,

few passages have given rise to so many different interpretations as this parable.

Now, at one level, what happens in the story seems clear enough.

The story begins with a rich man who had a manager.

Back then, a manager would have been responsible for administering a rich man's financial affairs.

He was legally authorized to negotiate contracts and sign binding agreements in the name of his master.

But this manager was irresponsible.

He did what the prodigal son did.

He wasted his master's possessions.

It's the same word translated squandered in chapter 15, verse 13,

as wasted in verse, or wasting in verse 1 of chapter 16.

And so, a report comes to the rich man.

The rich man at first seems a little oblivious, but he gets a report.

Your possessions are being squandered.

And he calls the manager in.

What's this I hear about you?

Give an account for yourself.

Hand over the books.

You're about to be fired.

Now, the manager doesn't deny the accusations.

He doesn't attempt to defend himself.

He doesn't offer any apology.

He knows it's all true.

Instead, he starts scheming.

What shall I do?

This is one of the rare places where you hear the interior monologue of a character in the Bible.

But here, Jesus shows us what's going on in his mind.

He says, what shall I do?

I'm getting fired.

Nobody else in my field will hire me with this on my record.

What are my options?

Manual labor?

Not strong enough.

Panhandling?

Too shameful.

But then in verse 4, he says, ah, I've got it.

I know what I'll do.

So that after I'm fired, I'll always have a roof over my head and food on my table.

So he calls in each of his master's debtors one by one.

Now, the parable only gives two representative examples, but it says he called them in one

by one, implying he brought each of them in separately.

First example, a man owed 875 gallons of oil.

Now, this is no small debt.

That was worth one to three years wages in the ancient world.

He says, cut it in half.

Next man owes over 1,000 bushels of wheat, worth even more, worth eight to nine years wages.

So this rich man is dealing with large loans.

In this case, he says, take 20% off.

Now, because he hadn't officially been fired, he still had authority to do this,

and there was nothing that the rich man could do legally against him.

But by doing this, the manager made each one of the debtors personally obligated to him

so that when he lost his job and nobody else would hire him,

they would be inclined to, as verse 4 says, receive me into their houses.

He'd have a whole long list of people he'd go to and say,

I did you a favor.

You owe me here.

Will you take me in?

Now, if there's one thing that seems clear so far,

it's that this manager is a shady, selfish dude.

At first, he's irresponsible, wasting his master's possessions.

Probably this is going on for quite some time.

Then, he's either too out of shape or too lazy or too pretentious to consider working with his hands.

He doesn't want to associate with people who are desperately poor,

who in those days had no other option but to beg for a living.

He doesn't fess up to what he's done.

He doesn't take responsibility.

He doesn't even plead for mercy, and he certainly doesn't try to make things right.

Instead, he gets even worse.

He squanders even more of his master's possessions in a last-ditch attempt to save his own hide.

Now, for the sake of full disclosure, I need to tell you that if you read commentaries on this passage,

many people will have come up with many explanations for why this guy is not actually so shady after all.

Some say that by reducing the debts, the manager honorably enhanced his master's reputation,

and the master praised him in verse 8 because now everyone thinks that the master is so generous.

Problem?

The manager in the story shows absolutely no concern for his master's reputation.

And in verse 5, he tells the debtor, quickly change the amount.

Obvious indication of fraud.

Others say the manager sacrificially deducted his own commission on the loans.

Problem?

There is no evidence that a manager would have been entitled to such a large commission,

in the first case, 100% on the loan.

That would make the manager even wealthier than the rich man.

He'd be out earning his boss.

That's completely unrealistic.

And besides, if he deducted his whole commission,

it would mean there would be absolutely nothing left for whoever replaces him.

Not really sacrificial at all.

Still others give a third explanation.

The manager righteously deducted the interest.

The Old Testament law prohibited charging interest to fellow Israelites.

Inflation wasn't really a thing back then.

So the law was basically protecting poor debtors from being gouged.

Now it's very possible that the rich man was taking advantage of his debtors,

charging them exorbitant interest, and that's how he had become so rich.

That was a common practice at the time.

And if so, Jesus' hearers might have felt that the filthy rich man got what he deserved.

Sort of like we might chuckle if an agent working for the mafia did what this manager did.

Having said that, there is no indication in the parable that the manager had any righteous motives

or any concern for obedience to God's law.

In verse 4, he tells us exactly what his motives were,

and they are selfish through and through.

So I don't think any of those explanations are worth...

I don't think any of those explanations work.

The manager is a shady, selfish dude.

The whole way.

And in verse 8, Jesus characterizes the manager in one word, dishonest.

Literally, unrighteous.

He's a wrongdoer.

He's a wicked man.

He's not a child of the light.

He's a child of this world.

He belongs to this present evil age.

So what's the point of this story?

You hear a story like this, and you expect that the first thing Jesus will say is,

don't be like that shady, selfish character.

And he will say that in verses 10 to 13.

But first, in verse 8, he says to his disciples,

there is one quality of that unrighteous manager that you ought to emulate.

The master commended or praised the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.

Now again, this verse does not say the master praised the shrewd manager for his dishonesty.

No, it says he praised the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.

So Jesus is not promoting dishonesty in any way.

But he is pointing to one thing that his disciples can learn from.

Now you might ask, who is speaking in verse 8?

Most people assume verse 8 is referring to the master in the parable

who praised the manager for his cleverness.

And this is very plausible, right?

The rich man finds out what the guy did, and he's like,

man, I got to hand it to you.

You're still fired, but boy, are you clever in making a way forward for yourself.

You might just succeed in business someday.

But it's also possible that the master in verse 8 is referring to Jesus himself.

Twelve times in Luke, Jesus is referred to in this very way,

and it's usually translated, the Lord.

The Lord commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.

If we understand it that way, the quotation from Jesus resumes in the second half of verse 8.

Now either way, whether it's Jesus or the master in the parable speaking,

verse 8 is the surprising twist, right?

Jesus' parables are stories about ordinary life,

and everything seems to be going the way you'd expect it to be going until there's a twist.

Sometimes there's more than one, but in this parable there's just one.

In verse 8.

And the surprising twists indicate the main point or points that Jesus is particularly trying to drive home.

That shady, selfish dude was shrewd.

That word shrewd simply means prudent or wise.

Matthew 10, 16, Jesus says to his disciples,

Be wise as serpents.

It's the same word.

Shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

The same word appears one other time in Luke's gospel in 1242.

Who then is the faithful and wise manager?

This parable here is about an unfaithful manager who nevertheless displays a kind of wisdom,

taking prudent and decisive action in the face of an oncoming crisis.

The 5th century Bishop Augustine put it this way.

Why did the Lord Jesus Christ present this parable to us?

He surely did not approve of that cheat of a servant who cheated his master,

stole from him, and did not make it up from his own pocket.

On top of that, he caused his master further loss

in order to prepare a little nest of quiet and security for himself after he lost his job.

Why did the Lord set this before us?

See, this is a question people have been wrestling with for a long time.

He says,

It is not because that servant cheated, but because he exercised foresight for the future.

He was ensuring himself for a life that was going to end.

And then Augustine presses his point home.

Would you not ensure yourself for eternal life?

In other words, would you not take as much care for the things of God

as this man did for the things of this world?

J.C. Ryle, the 19th century English preacher, put it this way.

The diligence of worldly men about the things of time

should put to shame the coldness of professing Christians about the things of eternity.

The zeal and tenacity of businessmen who cross sea and land to get earthly treasures

may well rebuke the slackness and sluggishness of believers about treasures in heaven.

That's what Jesus means when he says the sons of this world are more shrewd

in dealing with their own generation that is their own things

than the sons of light are in dealing with what belongs to us.

More simply, Daryl Bach put it this way,

People of this world give more thought to their physical well-being

than the righteous do, than followers of Jesus do to their spiritual well-being.

That's the meaning and the challenge of the parable.

This shady, selfish man was nevertheless shrewd,

and there's a lesson that the followers of Christ should learn from his shrewdness.

Now, Jesus goes on to give three applications of this parable in verses 9 to 13.

And I want to look at these applications and consider what they have to say to us today.

First application, verse 9,

Use wealth that will fail to bless people who will live forever.

Verse 9 follows directly from verse 8.

Jesus turns to his disciples and says,

Here's what I want you to take away.

I tell you this.

Now, when Jesus says,

Unrighteous wealth, in verse 9,

He doesn't mean what we might think it means.

He doesn't mean wealth obtained dishonestly.

If you look down at verse 11,

He uses the same phrase.

He talks about being faithful in the unrighteous wealth.

That makes absolutely no sense

if it means wealth obtained dishonestly.

You cannot be faithful with wealth that you have obtained through dishonest means,

except by repenting and making restitution.

Okay?

So it doesn't mean wealth obtained dishonestly.

It simply means the wealth of this unrighteous world.

All right?

You can think of all the shady things that the money in your wallet or your bank account

might have been used to do before it came around to you.

There's all kinds of icky ways that money is used in this fallen world.

So when he says unrighteous wealth,

it simply means the wealth of this unrighteous age.

And when Jesus talks about wealth,

it's not just money,

it's also our possessions,

our resources,

our connections,

our positions of influence and authority in this life.

In other words,

it's everything you have now

that you can't take with you when you die.

How do we manage our earthly resources wisely in light of eternity?

Jesus says in verse 9,

when it fails,

the wealth of this unrighteous world will fail.

It will come to an end.

You can't take any of it with you when you die.

It has no eternal value in itself,

and it cannot help you on the day of judgment.

So Jesus says,

therefore,

use it to bless people who will live forever.

The manager used his resources to make friends

who would receive him temporarily

and out of a sense of obligation

into their homes on earth.

Jesus says,

use your money,

your possessions,

your resources,

to bless people who may never be able to pay you back on earth,

but who will one day welcome you

wholeheartedly and joyfully

into your eternal home with God.

Now, let me be very clear.

Jesus is not teaching in verse 9

that you can buy your way into heaven

by giving to the church

or giving to the poor.

In the Middle Ages,

this passage was twisted

out of context in many ways.

But Jesus is very clear.

The Bible is very clear.

We are not saved by our works.

Salvation is only by the grace

and gift of God.

But the Bible does teach

that there will be a judgment

of our works.

In other words,

there will be an assessment.

On the last day,

God will ask us,

how did you manage the resources

I entrusted to you

as my people?

Did you put them to work

in ways that will last

into eternity?

One writer put it this way,

do we use our worldly possessions

in such a manner

that there will be people

in eternity

who will be glad

to receive us?

Or will many point

accusing fingers at us

because we neglected

or injured them

through our unfaithful use

of the earthly goods

entrusted to us?

What does that look like

practically?

To use wealth

which will come to an end

to bless people

in ways that matter

for eternity.

Think about the resources

that God has given you.

The cash in your wallet,

the money in your bank accounts,

the place where you live,

the skills you've developed,

the stuff you own,

the places you have access to,

the education you've received,

the authority and influence

you've been given,

the connections you have,

the time in your daily schedule.

Are you using those things

wisely, creatively,

prudently, actively,

not just to cover your own back

in this life

like the manager

in the parable did,

but to bless other people

in ways that will matter

for eternity?

When Jesus returns

and this present evil age ends,

and when the great feast

of his eternal kingdom begins,

will there be people

who can sit across the table

from you and say

things like these?

I was a victim

of a natural disaster.

When you sent aid

to help me and my family,

I saw that there were Christians

who really cared.

I was a refugee.

You took me in

when I had no earthly way

of repaying you.

I saw the love of God in you.

I grew up never having heard

about Jesus.

You faithfully prayed

and gave money

to the missionary

who preached the gospel to me.

I was raised in a chaotic

and dysfunctional family.

You became my spiritual father

or mother.

I was a drug addict.

You walked with me

through a long journey

of recovery and relapses

and every step of the way

you pointed me to my Savior.

I was an angry and bitter

and deeply hurt person,

and you spent costly time

loving me,

speaking the truth to me,

and showing me

what it means to forgive.

I grew up and came

to know Christ in the church

where you faithfully served

and tithed for years.

Will there be people

who can say those things

to you in eternity?

That's worth investing in.

Use wealth which will fail

to bless people

who will live forever.

That's the first point

of application.

Second,

be faithful in the small things now.

Verses 10 to 12.

How do you make a difference

that will matter for eternity?

Jesus says,

start by being faithful

with what you have now,

even if it seems small

and insignificant.

The words that's repeated

four times in verses 10 to 12

is faithful.

Faithfulness is the one,

is the quality

that is entirely absent

from the manager

in the parable.

You see,

Jesus' disciples

are to be wise,

shrewd,

like the manager,

but we must also be faithful

unlike the manager.

Jesus makes three comparisons

in verse 10 through 12.

Verse 10,

one who is faithful

in a very little

is also faithful in much.

And one who's dishonest

in a very little

is also dishonest in much.

Once or twice a year,

the elders consider

who we should recommend

to the congregation

to serve as an elder

or a deacon.

And this is one of the questions

we always ask.

Do we see this person

being faithful

in the little things?

Moses and David

were faithful

in taking care of sheep

for many years.

A relatively ordinary,

and thankless task.

And later on,

God made them shepherds

of His people Israel,

which also at times

for them was a thankless task,

but a much more significant one.

Is there a relatively small area

of your life

where you are not quite honest?

Is there a responsibility

that you have been given

that you are avoiding?

Do you have resources

that you are just wasting

because you're doing nothing

with them,

putting them to no good use?

Be faithful in the little things.

Verse 11,

if then you haven't been faithful

in the unrighteous wealth,

who will entrust to you

the true riches?

Jesus.

J.C. Ryle again says,

Dishonesty about money

is a sure sign of a heart

that is not right with God.

He who is dishonest

and unfaithful

in his duties on earth

must not expect

to have heavenly treasure.

Many people say,

if only I had more money,

I would give more money.

But God isn't primarily concerned

about the money

you don't have.

My parents taught me

about tithing

when I was six

or seven years old.

Every time it snowed,

I would earn a few dollars

shoveling the walkways

at my house

and my uncle's house

who lived down the street.

My parents explained

that I could give

some of that money

to the missionaries

that our church supported.

The amount was not important.

The heart and the habit was.

Parents, bless your children

by teaching them

to be faithful,

by teaching them

in concrete ways

the joy of giving

to the work of God

and to the needs of the world.

Verse 12,

If you haven't been faithful

in that which is in others,

who will give you

that which is your own?

You see,

in all three verses,

verse 10 through 12,

Jesus is driving home

the same point.

Be faithful in the little things.

Be faithful with the fleeting wealth

of this unrighteous world.

Be faithful as a manager

of that which is not

yours to keep.

Do you notice that Jesus

classifies money

and possessions

as very little things

in the big picture?

There's a parallel.

Very little unrighteous wealth,

that which is another's.

The stuff we have in this world

is not the most important thing.

It's not going to last

into eternity.

It's just a training ground,

Jesus is saying.

What really matters

are the true

and everlasting riches

of our inheritance

in Christ Jesus

that can never

be taken away,

that will be ours

to keep forever.

When Jesus comes again,

use wealth that will fail

to bless people

who will live forever.

Be faithful

in the small things now.

And third,

application,

worship God,

not money.

Verse 13,

no servant

can serve two masters.

You cannot serve

God and money.

See, Jesus concludes

this section

by pressing

the question

of allegiance.

the servant

in the parable

was not devoted

to his master.

He was devoted

to money,

which is another way

of saying

he was devoted

to himself

and his own comfort

above all.

That's why at first

he was irresponsible

and wasteful

and eventually

conniving

and manipulative.

Who are you

devoted to?

What has captured

your attention,

your allegiance,

your attachment

to the point

where you can't

or don't want

to live without it?

Jesus uses

strong language here.

You cannot serve

two masters

because at crucial points

these two masters

make competing

and irreconcilable claims.

How do you know

that money

is not your master?

Well,

can you give it away?

that's a good question

to ask about

any created thing

that threatens

to obscure

or displace

our loyalty

to Jesus.

Can I let go

of it?

It might be,

it's not that

it's an inherently

bad thing,

but can I let go

of it

so that I don't

need it

so much?

can I take

a break

from it

even for a time?

Can I

give it away?

Not just a token

gift here and there,

not just grudging

and guilt-ridden

donations

because you've been

asked over and over

or because someone's

manipulating you

with all kinds

of guilt feelings,

but intentional

giving,

giving that requires

some sacrifice

on your part

and giving that

results in joy,

that is one

of the fruits

of a heart

that is devoted

in love to Jesus.

We love to give

because he gave

to us.

You see,

Jesus is the master

who is worthy

of our love,

worthy of our devotion.

Jesus doesn't use

the language

of obligation

merely here.

He says,

Jesus is the one

who is worthy

of our love

and our heart's

devotion

and our greatest

desire.

You see,

ever since Adam

and Eve,

human beings

have greedily grabbed

for what is not

rightfully ours.

We have wasted

God's possessions.

We have defiled

God's property.

We were worthy

of being fired.

But Jesus stepped in.

The righteous one

entered into a world

of unrighteousness.

We all owed God

a debt

that we could not pay

and Jesus didn't

just reduce it.

He didn't just

cut us some slack.

and say,

I'll give you

a little more time.

He paid the debt

in full

that we could never

repay

through His very own

costly sacrifice

on the cross.

1 Peter 3, 18 says,

Christ suffered

once for sins.

The righteous

for the unrighteous

that He might

bring us to God.

God so loved

the world

that He gave

His only Son

that whoever

believes in Him

might not perish

but have eternal life.

He made a way

that we might join Him

in the eternal dwellings,

that we might have

a home

with Him

forever.

Do you realize

that nobody else

even claims

to offer

what Jesus does?

No other religion

says that God Himself,

God's own Son,

sacrificed Himself

for the sake

of His creatures

and offers

complete forgiveness

of sins.

Only Jesus

even dares

to offer it.

And boy,

He makes good

on His promise.

is He not worthy

of our trust

and love

who has given

us

everything

He had?

Be thou

my vision,

O Lord of my heart.

Not be all else

to me

save that

thou art.

Rich as I heed

not

nor man's

empty praise.

Thou my inheritance

now and always.

Thou and thou

only first

in my heart.

High King of Heaven

my treasure

thou art.

Let's pray.

Jesus,

we praise You

that You are

worthy of our trust,

worthy of our love,

worthy of our hope.

Lord,

we praise You

for Your

great

generosity

to us.

We praise You

for Your amazing

grace.

We praise You

for Your

steadfast

and faithful love.

We praise You,

Lord,

for these words

that startle us

in many ways.

We pray that they

would awaken us

to live

not simply

for today

but for eternity.

Not simply

for ourselves

but for

to bless others

as You

enable us.

We pray,

Lord,

that we would be

a church

that is prudent

and wise,

that is

courageous,

and that is

faithful

and above all

a church

that worships

only You.

Pray these things

in Your holy name.

Amen.