I want to start with a story. I'm not sure it's
true, but I think it is. But it makes a great
point, so we're going to go with it. At the beginning
of one of the Crusades, the Christian leaders
worried if they had enough troops to defeat the
enemy. So they hired several thousand pagan mercenaries
to fight with them. But then they worried that
God might not bless their war if they had unbaptized
pagans fighting for a Christian cause. So they
told the pagan soldiers they all had to be baptized
to make them Christian. And reluctantly, they
agreed. But as these soldiers went under the
water, they all held their swords up out of the
water, refusing to allow them to be baptized.
When asked why, the soldiers said that while
they were willing to take the step of baptism
to satisfy their new masters, they wouldn't bring
their swords under the authority of anyone but
themselves. Their swords belonged to them, not
Christ, and they'd use them the way they wanted.
Fast forward to today, and many American Christians
aren't a lot different. They'll go to church,
sit in a pew, perhaps get baptized and join the
church. But when they get baptized, they often
hold their wallets above their head out of the
water, signifying that while they don't mind
joining the church, their wallets are theirs,
not God's. and they'll use them the way they
want. And that brings us to our message today.
Today we're going to study one of the strangest
and most difficult parables Jesus ever told,
the parable of the dishonest manager. And there's
no end to debate about exactly what this parable
means or how it applies to our lives. So I want
you all to turn to Luke 16. I'm going to read
it to you, and I want you to listen to what it
says. Luke 16, starting in verse 1. Now he was
also saying to the disciples, there was a rich
man who had a manager and this manager was reported
to him as squandering his possessions. And he
called him and said to him, what is this I hear
about you? Give an accounting for your management
for you can no longer be manager. And then the
manager said to himself, what shall I do since
my master is taking away the management from
me? I'm not strong enough to dig. And I'm ashamed
to beg. I know what I shall do, so that when
I am removed from management, people will welcome
me into their homes. And he summoned each one
of his master's debtors, and he began saying
to the first, How much do you owe my master?
And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he
said to him, Take your bill and sit down quickly
and write fifty. And then to another he said,
And how much do you owe? And he said, A hundred
measures of wheat. And he said to him, take your
bill and write 80. And his master praised the
unrighteous manager because he acted shrewdly.
For the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation
to their own kind than the sons of light. And
I say to you, make friends for yourself by the
means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that
when it fails, they will receive you into the
eternal dwellings. He who is faithful in a very
little thing is also faithful in much. But he
who is unrighteous in a very little thing is
unrighteous also in much. Therefore, if you have
not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth,
who will entrust true riches to you? And if you
have not been faithful in the use of 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 one and love the other, or
else he will be devoted to one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and wealth. All right,
what do you think? What in the world is Jesus
trying to tell us here? And this really boils
down to two basic issues. Why is Jesus praising
a crook? And in what way are we as Christians
supposed to be like this guy? And I have to confess,
I have a love -hate relationship with this parable
because it strikes me as strange. I love the
challenge of digging into it and finding out
what's in this parable for our lives. But because
it's hard to understand, it also means it's easier
to get something wrong. And I hate making mistakes.
Jeff Noe knows exactly what I'm talking about.
All right. So I want you to think about the passage
we just read as we dig into Luke 16 and see what
we can figure out. Jesus is really saying and
what practical lessons we can learn from this
parable of the dishonest manager. So we're going
to start with the accusation. People were shocked
in the early 2000s when they heard about the
financial dishonesty at Enron and Arthur Anderson
Accounting and some other large corporations
and how they cooked their books. The leaders
of these corporations managed to steal billions
of dollars from their stockholders and employees,
and it was iffy for a time if any of them would
spend any time at all in jail. And what it proved
is there have been dishonest businessmen as long
as there have been businesses. And they even
had them in Jesus' day, and Jesus is going to
use one of them as an example in this parable.
Look at the first part of verse 1. Now he was
also saying to the disciples, As the story unfolds,
Jesus is speaking to his disciples. The Pharisees
are still hanging around, as verse 14 in this
chapter makes clear, but Jesus isn't focused
on the Pharisees at this point. This parable
is aimed at those who believed in him because
he had some important lessons he wanted them
to learn. And by extension, it's also appointed...
pointed at us as well, those who believe in Jesus
today. We need to learn those lessons from this
parable. Look at the second half of verse 1.
There was a rich man who had a manager, and this
manager was reported to him as squandering his
possessions. It was a common practice back then
for a rich landowner to turn over the day -to
-day running of his financial affairs to a manager
or a steward, someone who was responsible to
manage his wealth. Occasionally those managers
were slaves, as Joseph was when he managed Potiphar's
affairs in Egypt, but often they were free men.
The key to understanding what a steward did is
to remember that he managed somebody else's money.
He was in charge of his employer's asset, and
his sole obligation was to do the best job he
could for his master. But this steward did a
lousy job of managing his owner's assets. And
one day word reached the master that the steward
was squandering his wealth. That word squandering
is the same one used in Luke 15, 13 to describe
how the prodigal son squandered his inheritance
with loose living. But at least the prodigal
son squandered his own money. This manager was
squandering his master's money and that spelled
trouble. Look at verse 2. And he called him and
said to him, what is this I hear about you? Give
an accounting for your management, for you can
no longer be manager. Apparently, there was enough
evidence against the manager that the master
felt he had to act. And so the master ordered
the books open for a full audit and decided to
fire the manager. Now the manager had a big problem.
Look at verse 3. And the manager said to himself,
what shall I do? since my master is taking away
the management from me. I am not strong enough
to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. This dishonest
manager is in big trouble. He was a lifelong
bureaucrat who loved his desk job, and he's too
old to do manual labor to support himself, and
the thought of begging people for help disgusted
him. What he needed was a way to maintain his
current lifestyle, even after he was fired as
manager. And so this is our manager's dilemma.
He's accused of squandering his master's money.
The books are about to be opened for an audit
and his step is exposed, and his master has decided
to fire him. This is a huge crisis. The question
is, what would he do now? Listen, crisis often
reveals our character, what's really in our hearts.
It's during a crisis that we have to make some
hard choices about whether we trust God, depend
on his grace, and do the right thing. or panic,
depend on our own cunning, and fall into sin.
We've all been there, and we all know that crisis
tends to bring out our true character. For this
dishonest manager, he faces the choice between
coming clean, turning from his sin, and seeking
forgiveness and mercy from his master, or continuing
his old habits of dishonesty and deceit. So let's
see the answer he comes up with. And this is
where we run into some controversy about what
Jesus is saying in this parable. Is the manager
actually changing his ways and repenting or is
he simply doing more of the same? So I want to
read this next part and then we'll talk about
it. Look at verse four. I know what I shall do
so that when I remove from the management, people
will welcome me into their homes. Suddenly it
dawned on him. A way to take care of himself
after he's fired and to make sure he had some
place to go. All it would take is a little bit
of creativity. He would use the time he had left
to buy influence among wealthy clients of his
master to open the door for himself down the
road. Look at 5 to 7. And he summoned each one
of his master's debtors. And he began saying
to the first, how much do you owe my master?
And he said, a hundred measures of oil. And he
said to him, take your bill, sit down quickly
and write 50. And he said to another, and how
much do you owe? And he said, 100 measures of
wheat. And he said to him, take your bill and
write 80. He was a shrewd man. He knew everybody
likes to save money. So he called some of his
master's debtors and offered them a chance to
discount their debt by rewriting their contracts.
The amounts of food here are considerable, so
the discounts made a huge difference. It seemed
likely as well that Jesus cited these as simply
examples of what he did, that at the same time
he's rewriting other contracts for his master.
And it's easy to see how these other businessmen
who made a nice profit from the deals might be
grateful to him later on and willing to help
him. Now, here's the controversy. Some scholars
believe that in rewriting the contracts, this
represents a change of heart, that what he was
actually doing is removing his own excessive
interest charges from the bills he had been extorting
from his master's debtors. This is seen as a
step of honesty. If it's true, it does make the
master's praise of him in verse 8 a little more
understandable. So what do you think? Does this
view make sense to you? Do you think our dishonest
manager is actually turning over a new leaf here?
Well, as I've gone through this, I've come to
the conclusion this isn't a sudden attack of
conscience causing him to take a step in the
right direction, and here's why. First, there's
no evidence of repentance. Nothing he does indicates
he's repenting. There's no confession of sin,
no admission of wrongdoing, no seeking forgiveness
from his master. If this is repentance, it's
carefully disguised repentance. And secondly,
his motives are way off. As we just saw in verses
3 and 4, he didn't do this because he felt guilty
and wanted to make things right with his master
and his creditors. He did it to save his own
skin so that he would be taken care of when he
was fired. That doesn't strike me as the high
moral conviction of a man who's trying to change
his ways. Everything in these verses convinces
me that this is simply more the same dishonesty
that got him fired in the first place. Rather
than face up to his mismanagement, the steward
decided to be more dishonest. Creative, but dishonest.
And he also knew that he could count on finding
other businessmen who were as dishonest as he
was. Crisis and pressure usually reveal what's
really in our hearts. When everything's going
well and we're in control, it's easy to put up
a front and pretend we're so spiritual. Before
this, I'm sure many people thought this steward
was a good guy, just as many people thought all
the corporate execs in the early 2000s were good
guys. But when the pressure's on, what's in our
heart comes out, and he became more dishonest.
Pressure always forces our true character to
the surface. So how deep does our faith in God
go? We won't really know until hard times come
and the pressure is on. And that's when our true
character and commitment to God will either shine
through or crumble. And the time to build our
character is now so that when the pressure is
on, godliness will shine through. Crisis will
reveal a lot about our character and how deep
our faith goes. All right, let's talk about the
application of this parable. This is the fun
part, how we apply this to our lives. But to
do that, we're going to have to carefully sort
out exactly what Jesus is and isn't saying to
make sure that we don't draw any wrong conclusions.
But the heart of this parable is a challenge
to the people of God. to learn how to use their
money for the glory of God and to build his kingdom.
And as you will see, this parable is really a
call to financial faithfulness among the followers
of Jesus. Look at verse 8. Now, several key points
need to be made here. First, Because the steward
still had authority to act when he discounted
the bills, the contracts he signed were valid
and the master would have to honor them. And
second, the master isn't praising him for his
dishonesty. That's important to remember. What
he praises the manager for is his shrewdness,
for his quick thinking and using his position
to buy influence among wealthy people who would
be in a position to help him later. What he prays
for is knowing how to use the financial resources
of this world for his own good and to get what
he wanted in the world. That's the heart of Jesus'
comment at the end of this verse when he states
that the people of the world know how to use
money and resources at their disposal to win
friends and buy favor among the people around
them to get what they want. They understand money.
and power, and influence, and how to use money
to get their own way. That is how the game is
played. Look, it's no secret in Washington that
there is a pay -to -play mentality of many of
our office holders there. That if you give enough
money to the right campaign, you can buy influence
and favors. What did we find out this week during
hearings with RFK Jr.? Virtually every senator
and congressman on the committee he was sitting
before had taken money from the pharmaceutical.
Interesting. I wonder why they gave all that
money. It's a running joke in Washington. And
Jesus is saying, worldly people know how to play
that game, and they play it really well. There
is a shrewdness to how they go about using their
money to buy favors and influence. And this manager
knew how the game was played, and he played it
well to his own advantage. But what Jesus wants
us to understand and what he is about to go on
to explain is that his followers need to learn
how to be shrewd with their money and resources,
but not in a dishonest way, and not for themselves,
and not to gain power and influence in this world,
but to use that shrewdness to build the kingdom
of God. And so often God blesses us with resources
that he wants us to use for his kingdom. And
it never dawns on us that God might have a higher
purpose in blessing us than just satisfying our
own wants and desires. The people of God need
to learn how to use their money to the glory
of God and the kingdom of God the same way the
people of the world use their money for their
own desire and power. And in the next few verses,
Jesus is going to make some very insightful applications
of what it means for his followers to be shrewd
with their money. Remember, though, shrewd does
not mean dishonest. And the core idea that comes
up again and again is faithfulness. Are we being
faithful with the finances God has given us?
Are we using his money wisely and shrewdly to
build his kingdom and accumulate treasure in
heaven? Or are we spending it on our own wants
and desires without any real thought to what
God wants us to do? So let's go through the next
few verses and see what applications Jesus makes
for us. First, we have to make sure we're buying
influence in the right place. Look at verse 9.
dwellings. So let's define some terms here so
that we make sure we understand exactly what
Jesus is saying. The wealth of unrighteousness
or the mammon of unrighteousness should be understood
as worldly wealth. The money and resources the
people of this world seek so passionately. It's
unrighteous because it's uncertain, unstable,
easily lost, destined to perish, and it corrupts
the heart. But Jesus also recognizes that Christians
need to learn how to use worldly wealth in an
otherworldly way. And the French mention here
could be a way of referring to God who welcomes
into heaven those who learn to use their resources
wisely. But friends could also mean the people
we've touched for Christ here on earth through
using our finances wisely for the kingdom of
God, that they will welcome us into heaven one
day. I always think of that Ray Bolt song from
years ago, Thank You, where a man is standing
in heaven and someone comes up to him who he
never met on earth and tells him how God used
the money he gave that missionary and who preached
the gospel to him and led to his salvation. If
we use our money wisely, people will be touched
for eternity and we may well be welcomed into
heaven someday by friends we never knew. I believe
many people at Heart of the Canyons will be welcomed
into heaven one day by Nashi believers from China
because they helped send our mission team there
a few years ago and had a part in their salvation.
There may well be people in Madagascar who will
welcome Oak Hill people into heaven one day because
we helped expand and repair their church and
help them buy a school with the money we sent.
And it's just a small amount of money here, but
the fruit of it may go well beyond anything we've
ever thought of. So the first application Jesus
makes for us is that we better make sure we're
buying influence in the right place, in heaven,
not on earth. The dishonest manager used his
master's money to buy influence with the wealthy
and powerful on earth. Jesus wants us to learn
to use our money to buy influence in heaven.
That's the shrewdness Jesus wants us to have,
that we can take something very worldly and unrighteous
like money and use it to influence people for
eternity and gather treasure in heaven one day.
We are to seek treasure in heaven more than treasure
on earth. And did you catch that remark about
worldly wealth failing one day? It won't last
and it's destined to perish. Money can't save
us. We can't take one cent with us to heaven.
But we can use our money to invest in treasure
in heaven that will last for eternity. And we
can touch people for eternity with our money.
We can't take it with us, but we can send it
ahead. Second, learn faithfulness with this small
responsibility, money. Look at verse 10. He who
is faithful in a very little thing. My first
thought when I read this is that money doesn't
seem like such a small thing to me. It seems
like a very huge thing at times in my life. But
remember, the values of heaven are the exact
opposite from the values of earth. Gold, the
thing so many wars in human history have been
fought over, is used to pave the streets of heaven.
From God's perspective, money is one of the small
areas of responsibility that he uses to evaluate
our faithfulness. It seems pretty clear from
this verse that Christians who can't learn to
use their money wisely for God's kingdom will
be way off in other areas of their lives as well.
If our faith in Christ doesn't affect how we
use our money, it won't affect these other areas
either. Money is one of the weather vanes God
uses to measure our faithfulness. And it's very
simple. If we aren't trustworthy with the money
God gives us now, then we won't be very trustworthy
with the more important things of the kingdom
of God, like caring for people and using our
gifts and walking in integrity. Money is a weather
vane, how deep our faithfulness in God goes in
the things that really matter. Money is a small
thing in God's eyes, but it's a very big indicator
of the depth of our trust and faithfulness to
him in the kingdom. Faithfulness with money indicates
fitness for greater responsibility in the kingdom
of God. You wouldn't promote an employee who
couldn't handle the small responsibility of his
job. Neither will God. Third, money opens the
door to true riches. Look at verse 11. Do you
know that God has great plans for us? He wants
to use each and every one of us to extend his
kingdom and impact people for eternity. And he
wants to reward us for our faithfulness with
true riches, with treasure in heaven, with responsibility
for souls here, and effective ministry here and
now. God has great plans for all of us. But if
God can't trust us to be faithful with worldly
wealth he has given us, And he can't trust us
with eternal resources. Learning to use our worldly
wealth shrewdly for God's kingdom opens the door
to greater riches in our lives, both financial
and otherwise. And we forfeit those true riches
when we misuse our money and squander our resources.
Fourth, we are all stewards. Look at verse 12.
And if you have not been faithful in the use
of that which is in others, who will give you
that which is your own? This is a key concept
throughout this passage. We are all stewards.
And all the financial resources God has given
us belong to him, not us. We are the managers,
not the owners. And the key point Jesus is making
in this verse is that nothing we have right now
is ours. None of it belongs to us. It all belongs
to God. We have that which is another's. And
if we aren't faithful with it, God will never
give us any real resources of our own. We are
all stewards of God's money. And we will forfeit
treasure in heaven one day if we misuse God's
treasure here and now. If you found out your
accountant was living high on the hog on your
money instead of investing it for you, you'd
do one thing. You'd fire that accountant. Why?
Because he's wasting money that belongs to you
and not him. And if we show ourselves unfaithful
to God by squandering his resources, he certainly
isn't about to give us more resources of our
own. And finally, we can only have one God. Look
at verse 13. No servant can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and love the
other, or else he will be devoted to one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Here's the crux of the issue. Why does God put
so much emphasis on measuring our faithfulness
with money? Why is he so concerned about how
we spend our money? Because when you cut through
all the facades and all the excuses, how we use
our money reveals who our God really is. Remember,
our God is who we serve, who we trust in, who
we lean on in hard times. And for most people
in America today, money is their God and their
faith is in their affluence. That's why so many
people get so rattled when the stock market tanks.
And while it's possible to have both God and
money, it's impossible to serve both God and
money. One will reign supreme and dominate all
our decisions. And for most people today around
us, money dominates. And Jesus is warning us
to make sure our faith and trust are squarely
in the one true God and not in money like so
many around us. It's a call for us to be different
from the unbelieving world we live in. We are
to constantly check our hearts because the lure
to trust money is so subtle and destructive in
our lives. So putting all these verses together,
we can get an accurate picture of how God views
money in our lives. First, We need to be sure
we are using our money shrewdly to buy influence
in the right place, heaven, and that we're using
it to affect people for eternity. Second, money
is a small area of our lives, but one that reveals
our fitness for greater service in the kingdom
of God. God is looking for faithfulness. Third,
when we use our money the right way on earth,
it leads to greater treasure in heaven and usefulness
now. And fourth, we are all stewards of God's
resources and our money belongs to him, not us.
He expects us to use it wisely for his kingdom
and he will reward us if we do. And finally,
how we use our money reveals who our God truly
is. If we are truly seeking after God and his
kingdom, it will be clearly seen in our checkbooks.
All right, so let's talk about the action. If
all this is true, what does God want us to do
now? See, it's not enough to know these things.
You're blessed if you do these things. So God
wants us to begin to examine how we use our finances
and to make sure that we are using our resources
in a way that reflects our commitment to him
and his kingdom. So here are some principles
we need to put into practice if we want to make
sure we are trusting God and not our money. Some
of these principles are from 2 Corinthians. and
I'd encourage you to read those chapters where
Paul talks about giving. First, we must give
faithfully. Giving is not a matter of what we
make. It's a matter of how much we trust God.
That trust must be reflected in faithful giving.
That means every time we get paid, we need to
set aside what we're going to give to God. We
have to establish a heart and a habit of faithful
giving in our finances. That's why Paul encourages
the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 16 .2 to put
aside money on the first day of every week to
give. And don't fall for the lie that says, well,
when I'm out of debt or when I pay off this bill
or when I get a raise, then I'll start giving
to God. That day will never come. God is not
interested in grand promises about what we will
do tomorrow. He is interested in our faithfulness
today. And if we aren't giving now, odds are
we won't give tomorrow either, no matter how
much we have. Faithfulness starts today with
what we have now. So set an amount and start
giving. Besides, maybe you're in debt because
you've never trusted God and you aren't giving
and he can't bless you. Oftentimes, giving is
one of the first steps out of debt. Second, we
have to give to God first. If you're not in the
habit of giving to God, then you need to start
by giving to God first. I guarantee you that
if you always wait to see what you have left
before you give, you'll never give. We can always
find ways to spend everything we have and more.
So commit to give to God first by writing your
first check to God before you pay the bills.
That way you can make sure God is not shortchanged
or overlooked, and it can help you develop that
habit of faithful giving. God wants our first
fruits, not our leftovers. Third, we have to
give freely. God is not interested in our money
if he has to pry it from our iron grasp. If we're
giving grudgingly and with resentment, God can
live without it. He wants us to give freely out
of gratitude because we understand what he has
done for us in giving us his son. And because
we realize what God can do through our gifts,
our gifts to God need to be given freely out
of love and gratitude to him. God loves a cheerful
giver. Fourth, we have to grow in our giving.
If we're serious in our walk with the Lord, we
will grow in our giving over time. When we get
a raise, our giving should increase. And quite
honestly, I don't know anyone who's serious about
growing in the Lord and seeking him who doesn't
come to the place somewhere in their lives where
they're tithing. This is me, not O 'Kill. Let
me make that clear. And I know there's some debate
on whether tithing is taught in the New Testament
or not. And that's something you'll have to wrestle
with in your walk with God. But even more, every
serious Christian I've ever met ends up tithing.
You may not be there yet, but let me encourage
you to begin to work toward getting there. Some
of you know this is true because God's been burdening
your heart with this, that this is something
you need to do. It's an issue of faith. But remember,
tithing is a floor. It's not a ceiling. It's
not like once you're tithing, you never have
to give any more. Once you've experienced the
joy of giving to God by tithing, we may end up
giving way more than a tithe. God wants us to
grow in our giving as we grow in our faith, and
tithing may well be a part of that for you. Again,
that's me. That's not Oak. All right. And fifth,
we have to give sacrificially. At times, giving
should hurt. We should feel compelled to give
even if it means we have to go without something.
And I don't mean giving up a Starbucks once in
a while. Paul praises the Macedonian believers
for giving out of their poverty and beyond anything
Paul expected them to do. They gave an overwhelming
gift. You know, my old church Cornerstone, we
had a family that went to Nekus, Uzbekistan as
missionaries for five years. It was a brutal,
hard place to serve. And we were a small church,
but our people gave faithfully and sacrificially
to support Scott and Dortha the whole time they
were there. And after four years, they had seen
the church grow from about 50 to about 90. And
then something amazing happened. Over their last
year there, the church exploded to almost 1 ,000,
and this in a Muslim country. It was a great
work of God fueled by the sacrificial giving
of a small church in Saugus, California. I reminded
what David said when he wanted to buy the threshing
floor from Arunah to make a sacrifice to the
Lord. And when Arunah offered to give him everything
for free, David refused and said, I will not
offer to God something which costs me nothing.
We need to give sacrificially. Six, we have to
change our habits. How do you know if your spending
habits are wrong? If you're American, they're
probably wrong. Look, most Christians don't struggle
with giving because they don't have enough. They
struggle with giving because they mismanage what
they have. We eat out way more than we should.
We buy more house than we need. We drive cars
that cost a fortune when we could be just fine
with something less. Or we trade them in every
two or three years because we're bored with them
when we could drive them for 10 or 12. We buy
all these toys because our friends have them.
And we spend ourselves into credit card purgatory
because we haven't learned to say no to our appetites.
Giving faithfully to God for most of us means
we'll have to do some radical surgery on our
money management. It will mean evaluating your
spending by God's standards, not Madison Avenue's.
And it will mean obeying God's command in Romans
13 .8 to stay out of debt by doing some plastic
surgery and cutting up those credit cards. so
that we get ruthless about avoiding new debt.
But financial freedom at the end of the process
will be worth it. And if you want some practical
help learning how to manage your money, I encourage
you to find a copy of Dave Ramsey's Financial
Peace University. You'll find some great information,
some great steps you can take on how to be better
stewards of what God has given you. Giving faithfully
means we'll have to change our habits. Finally,
this isn't in your notes, but I wanted to say
this. We live in a society that is absolutely
filled with covetous people. Whether that's people
out to get every nickel they can from anybody
and everybody, or politicians out to take everything
they can from anybody and everybody to use it
on their own whims. Covetousness is a disease
in our society. But you know what? Giving kills.
covetousness in our lives. One way to defeat
the coveting is by giving freely to develop that
generous spirit that goes so counter to the spirit
of the age. Learning to give will help kill coveting
in our hearts. Is all this easy? No, it's not.
But that's the wrong question. The question we
have to ask ourselves is, is this right? And
if it's right, then it doesn't matter whether
it's easy or not. We need to do it because it's
right. We all know in our hearts that we haven't
been as faithful as we should. We all know when
we've squandered a lot of our money and resources
on trivial stuff that's destined to perish and
worthless in light of eternity. The trouble is
they're not our resources to squander. They're
God's resources. And like the dishonest manager,
we have to give an account to God one day for
how we have used his money. Better to start changing
our habits now so we will not be ashamed later.
Now, there's an old saying that when you start
talking about money, you stop preaching and you've
gone to meddling. But the problem with that is
if you're committed to preaching Jesus, you have
to talk about money. Because Jesus talked more
about money than any other topic. And maybe he
knew just how big a struggle money is for people.
And any preaching that fails to bring to light
what God says about an area that so many of us
struggle in is not biblical preaching. And the
scary part is, if it was a struggle to keep money
in perspective back in Jesus' day, when most
people were dirt poor and barely got by, how
much bigger a problem is it today when affluence
corrupts so much of our society? I hate to think
what Jesus would say to our society about its
attitude toward money. And the tension between
needs and want, between coveting and contentment,
is a harsh reality we all have to wrestle with
every day. And it's time we learn the lessons
Jesus wants us to learn from this parable. That
God wants us to be good managers of the resources
and learn how to use our money shrewdly and wisely
for his kingdom and his glory. How we use our
money is a test of our faithfulness, and we all
need to ask God honestly to examine our hearts
and help us begin to change what we need to change.
Let's pray. Father, I know whenever we talk about
money, it always hits close to home, and it always
hits close to our hearts, Lord. We live in a
society that measures everything by dollars and
affluence and possessions and all those kinds
of things, Lord, things that are superficial,
things that are destined to fail and don't last.
And yet God... You want us to learn how to use
the unrighteous wealth of this world for a righteous
cause. To be shrewd in how we use these things
so that, Lord, we can build your kingdom, lead
people to Christ, and gather treasure for eternity.
Father, I pray you would help each of us to take
a deep look in our own hearts and that you would
show us how we can grow. And how we handle our
finances. That you would help us to grow in our
giving. That we would give faithfully. That we
would give sacrificially. That we would give
to you first. And that we would put you first.
That you would be our God and not money. So Father,
we ask you to do a work of grace in our hearts.
Work this through our lives over this next week.
And convict us in where we need to change. And
help us to grow in our giving. and in our understanding
of how we use our resources to glorify you and
build your kingdom. And we thank you now, Lord,
for this. In Jesus' name, amen.