This week, we have been addressing the question “If
God is the owner and we are the managers, then how are we supposed to manage
all that God owns? How does God define success when it comes to how we are to
manage the money, possessions, and treasure we have on earth?”
To answer these questions, we have been looking at a
section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in our Bibles,
called the gospel of Luke. In this section of this letter, we see Jesus telling
a series of parables.
After receiving a report that the money,
possessions, and treasure that he owned was being wasted by his manager, a rich
man called the manager in for a meeting. The owner confronted the manager in a
very direct manner: “What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your
management, for you can no longer be manager.”
Jesus explained that the wasteful manager contacted each
person who owed money to his master and renegotiated the terms of their debt.
The manager negotiated what we would call in our culture today a series of
short sales. In these short sales, the manager would collect what he could on
the outstanding debt instead of risking never receiving any money from the debt
that was owed.
Now, as you might imagine, these short sales were a great
deal for those who owed money to the rich man. And the great deals that would
come about as a result of these short sales would earn the wasteful manager
favor in the eyes of those whose debt was being eliminated from the short sale.
However, these short sales were not a great deal for the rich man. The rich man
would end up losing money. Which is why what Jesus says next is so surprising.
So let’s look together at what Jesus had to say about the manager’s plan in
Luke 16:8:
"And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted
shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own
kind than the sons of light.
Jesus explained that the rich man was not mad at the
wasteful manager for losing him more money. Instead, the rich man expressed
admiration and approval for the wasteful manager because he acted shrewdly. Now
this word shrewdly, in the language that this letter was written in, refers to
having an understanding that was associated with insight and wisdom.
Jesus then reveals what gained the wasteful manager
admiration and approval in the eyes of the rich man: “for the sons of this age
are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.” But, what
does that even mean? I mean, what is Jesus talking about here? Jesus point here is that people who are far
from God tend to be more prudent in dealing with those who are far from God
than those who are close to God are in dealing with those who are far from God.
The unrighteous and wasteful manager displayed more
insight and wisdom in dealing with others around him that were far from God
than someone who was close to God would have demonstrated. What the master
praised the manager for was not the fact that he handled his money well. That
is not Jesus point here.
What the master praised the manger for was his cleverness
and prudent self-interest that would result in him developing relationships
that would provide and support him after he lost his job as manager. Now if you
find yourself a little confused by this parable, just wait until you see what
Jesus says next in verse 9:
"And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth
of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the
eternal dwellings.
Now, I imagine that this was one of the times where Jesus
followers looked at one another and said “why does He always have to talk like
that? Why does He say things like this?” So what is Jesus saying here? Is Jesus
saying that you can earn your way into Heaven? Is Jesus saying that we are to
use money to somehow influence and buy our way into Heaven?
Because, that is what it seems that Jesus is saying,
doesn’t it? At first glance, Jesus seems to be saying that we are to make
friends with God with the treasure we have on earth, so that when those
temporary treasures cease to exist upon our death that we can get into Heaven.
So, is that what Jesus is saying here?
To understand what Jesus is saying here, we first need to
understand what He is not saying. Jesus is not saying to those who are far from
God that they should use their money to buy their way into Heaven. This is not
a command to use ill-gotten gain for one’s own selfish desires.
Instead, Jesus is using this parable, this earthly story,
to reveal the reality that those who are His followers will demonstrate the
proof of their faith and their relationship with Him by how trustworthy they
are in handling the money, possessions, and treasure of this world. We know
this to be the case because of what Jesus says next in verses 10-13.
When we read the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded
for us in the Bible, Jesus often will first tell a parable and then explain the
parable to His confused followers. In Luke 16:1-9, Jesus tells the parable. And
in Luke 16:10-13, we see Jesus explain the parable. And it is in His
explanation that we see Jesus reveal for us a timeless principle about how God
will measure and judge how we manage the money, possessions, and treasure we
have been given. So let’s look at the explanation together beginning in verse
10:
"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much;
and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
After telling the parable, Jesus
then explains that when it comes to how we handle the money possessions, and
treasure we have been given, the issue is not about the amount of money,
possessions, and treasure. In other words, Jesus is explaining to His disciples
that the amount of treasure is not the issue.
Jesus point is that the amount
of treasure that one possesses does not make one more or less spiritual, because
money, possessions, and treasure are amoral; they are not inherently good or
evil. As we discovered a few weeks ago, however, the thing about treasure that
makes it so powerful is that treasure exposes the motives of our hearts. That’s
why we can find ourselves feeling so convicted, I mean uncomfortable, when the
subject of money, possessions, and treasure is brought up in church.
And it is here that we see Jesus reveal for us another timeless principle when it
comes to how God will measure and judge how we manage
the money, possessions, and treasure we have been given. And that timeless
principle is this: When it comes to treasure, the measure for how we manage
God’s treasure is faithfulness. When it comes how we will be judged as managers
of God’s treasure, Jesus
explains that the standard is faithfulness.
Maybe you are thinking “if I
only had more money then everything would be ok. If I only had more money, I
would be able to get out of debt and pay off my credit cards and make my house
payments.” What Jesus is saying here is “no everything wouldn’t be okay”.
Jesus point in verse 10 is that
the reason that we are in the financial situation that we are currently in,
whether good or bad, is due to how we have managed the money, possessions, and
treasure that we have been given. Just adding more money to the problem does
not solve the problem, because the problem is not a lack of money; the problem
is a lack of faithfulness with the money that we have been given.
Jesus point here is that if we
are unfaithful, we are unfaithful; whether it is with $10, $100, or $1,000,000.
After exposing the problem, Jesus continues by explaining the implications that
the level of our faithfulness with money, possession, and treasure can have on our
relationship with God in Luke 16:11.
Tomorrow, we will discover that
connection together…
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