Scripture Reading: Luke: 1–13

He also said to his disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called him and said to him, What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig. I am ashamed to beg. I resolve what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him and said to the first, How much do you owe, my master? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And so he said to him, Take your bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then he said to another, And how much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him, Take your bill, and write eighty. So the master commended the unjust steward, because he had dealt shrewdly.

For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fall, they may receive you into an everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, Who will commit to you trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.

“Let’s see if the Lord’s blessing on this is His word.”

A gracious God in heaven we do praise you and thank you for your word and the truth that reveals to us. And as we come to this passage this afternoon, we pray that your spirit again, truly active in our midst and opening our eyes and hearts and our minds to hear, to receive this truth that is here, to apply it by your spirit to our lives, to be encouraged, to be challenged, to be equipped all to the praise of your glorious name. So we ask now for your blessing upon your word in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Introduction: The Human Desire for Security

It’s very natural for us to feel safe and secure in areas, in all areas of our lives. Whether it’s our physical health, or our families, or our homes, or our valuables, our finances, whatever it might be, we like to know that everything is going to be safe from danger.

But what often makes fulfilling this need so challenging is that there’s so much we know that’s just simply outside of our control. And so even if we make the best plans possible in all these areas, we know that anything can happen that’s outside of our control and that the plans we made were not sufficient.

Now this shouldn’t keep us though from seeking security in these areas. Certainly there’s great wisdom in doing what we are able to pursue security for ourselves, our families. But as we discover in our passage this afternoon, such pursuits shouldn’t be our chief focus in life. And they certainly shouldn’t be our only hope for a secure future.

Jesus challenges his disciples and us to be diligent in pursuing a securing spiritual wealth, so that when all else fails, we won’t be left without any hope of a future that’s sure and certain.

And Jesus presents this challenge by sharing this parable of the unjust steward. And this parable and the lessons that flow from it will reveal to us that how you view money and wealth and how you use them can actually be a test of character that reveals the focus of your heart and the hope for your future, whether you’re focused on this life alone or whether you’re pressing on toward eternity in faith.

The Parable: The Unjust Steward’s Scheme

There was a rich man, as Jesus begins the parable, a rich man who had a steward. And the steward was hired to manage this rich man’s business affairs.

But as the boss was away, you hire a manager, you don’t micromanage, you let them go and do what they need to do. But this boss that hired the steward, he hears that the steward was wasting his goods. Now we don’t know specifically how he was wasting that could be intentional fraud or deceit or maybe it was just mere incompetence in his work but the steward had shown himself to be irresponsible and untrustworthy for the job that he was hired to do and so the boss had planned to fire him but the termination wasn’t immediate instead the boss charges the steward to give an account of your stewardship that is basically saying look before you leave i want you to put the books in order and then turn them over so that i can basically examine them to assess the damage that you’ve cost me.

Well if the boss only knew what the steward was going to do next he probably would have just thrown him out on the spot but the steward is allowed to go and prepare the books.

As the steward goes off, he finds himself in a little bit of a bind. Not only is he out of a job, but he has no other marketable skills, or at least he has no desire to acquire any other marketable skills. He’s not strong enough for manual labor, or maybe he doesn’t like to do manual labor. He’s too proud to beg. And so what’s he going to do? How’s he going to provide for his family? How is he going to secure his future?

Well, his time is running out. He needs to think and he needs to act quickly. Well, he does, he could have certainly humbly gone to his boss and confessed his incompetence and pled for a second try. But instead of doing that, he has another plan. And in verse four, you see that he comes up with another plan. And that because he’s removed from his position, that people may receive him into their houses.

Well, he wastes no time in putting this plan into action. And he begins to call the debtors of his boss to come to him one by one. And the first debtor owes the boss a hundred measures of oil. And so the steward says, no, take your bill. Sit down quickly and just write for 50. And so the debtor here, in this instance, is receiving basically a 50% reduction of his debt and what he owes. And then another owes the boss 100 measures of wheat, and he receives a 20% discount, as the records now show that he only owed 80 measures.

Well, Jesus only gives these two examples, but the implication is that the steward did this with as many debtors, the boss’s debtors, as he could. Now, if the steward hadn’t purposely committed fraud before, well, he was certainly doing it now.

But how is this plan going to secure his future? Well, if the debtors were unaware of the steward’s deceit, against the boss, they might just imagine that the steward was just being very generous toward them. They’d be so pleased and thankful for the kindness shown to them that they would then feel obligated to return the generosity to the steward, especially once they hear that he’s lost his job.

You do something nice for somebody, and they hear that you’re down, and they might come and they’re freely offer your assistance to you. And so the steward could then go from house to house. If he’s got all these debtors that he’s helped, he could go around to their different houses. He could live off the generosity of others for quite some time.

But if the debtors were aware of the steward’s deceit, well then actually the steward’s future would be even more secure. You see, for the debtors gladly receive the bills, and they gladly change them. And so then now they are accomplices in this fraud. And so if they blew the whistle on the steward, well then they too would be charged. And so they were stuck. And so the steward had succeeded really in binding all the debtors in a position where they were going to have to provide for him. He had successfully secured his future.

Well in verse 8, the boss arrives and he realizes what it is that the steward has done. Now certainly we can imagine that the boss would be furious and outraged, but instead of lashing out at the steward, he does quite the opposite. Jesus says, so the master commended the unjust steward, because he had dealt shrewdly.

Surprisingly, the boss commends the steward for his shrewdness. Now it’s important to understand what the boss is doing, what he isn’t doing here. By praising the steward’s shrewdness, he’s simply admiring really the resourcefulness and the practical wisdom that the steward used to secure his future. But the boss was not praising and commending the steward’s dishonesty and fraud.

And so it would be like saying to someone, look, you’re a crook, but I got to hand it to you. That was a pretty brilliant scheme. And so the boss was still going to fire the steward, but again, he was astounded at his cleverness. And the steward was very clever. He even had all the bases covered.

He had the debtors in his back pocket, and now he kind of really had the hands of the boss tied. Because how could the boss ever prove that the bills were changed, even though he likely knew that they were? who were his witnesses. He certainly can’t demand the debtors pay him the original amount because he has no legal grounds. There’s nothing to show of what they truly owed him.

Besides, while the bills were actually being changed, the steward was still technically operating under the delegated authority of the boss. And the steward’s signature was just as good as the boss’s signature. Now, if only the boss had earlier made the termination effective immediately, all this could have been avoided. But this delay allowed for a weakness, and the steward seized upon that weakness. And so the boss was stuck. So the only thing he could do was admire the shrewdness of the steward. And the steward, well, he was happy. This future was secure.

Lesson 1: Be Diligent in Planning for Eternity

Jesus now uses this parable then as a springboard to draw out several important lessons. And the first lesson Jesus shares is in direct connection to the parable, and it’s simply this.

We ought to be diligent in planning for our future.

Jesus said in the second part of verse 8, For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And Jesus is drawing a comparison. He’s saying, this steward is like the sons of this world, that is, unbelievers. Those without God and without eternal hope in this world.

And their chief concern is to secure a future for themselves and their families in this life. And all they do, and all they’re working toward for now is so that they might be able to retire in comfort and ease and enjoy the last years on earth, doing whatever it is that they want to do.

Of course, the irony here, though, is that the future that they’re planning isn’t going to last. Because when death comes, and it will come, their life of comfort and ease will then cease. But they push themselves regardless. With great diligence, they plan, they prepare for this temporal security. Their devotion, their shrewdness, their resourcefulness and diligence in pursuing this goal are quite admirable.

Even though the sons of light, that is those with an eternal hope, even though they may look on and critique them about the ultimate short-sightedness of their pursuits, again, we can still admire their diligence. And this becomes the point of comparison, as Jesus indicates, that the sons of light are not as diligent and shrewd in planning for their future, a future that will actually last an eternity, as the sons of this world are in planning for their future, which lasts but for a moment and is gone.

And so this is really a rebuke. It’s a rebuke to the disciples to take their future more seriously and to appreciate the value of eternal life in the glorious presence of God. Because eternal is so much more than temporal.

Those who trust in Christ for salvation ought to pursue with even more diligence the security of eternal life than those whose only hope is in the material possessions of this life.

Now we need to acknowledge at this point that our salvation we know and the eternal life which Jesus graciously gives to us is most secure.

Jesus says in John 10, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father’s hand. So there’s no greater security than this, that those who truly believe in Christ are held secure in the Father’s hands.

But we must be careful not to take this for granted. We ought to be diligent to make our calling and election sure, as Peter urges us in 2 Peter 1, doing good works not to earn our salvation, but to give evidence of it and the grace of God working in us. This is what we’re to do.

But some we know who claim the name of Christ typically give no thought to being obedient to God’s moral law. They disregard godliness in the pursuit of holiness, and they continue to live their lives as if the gospel has had no effect upon them. And the hard truth is, if this is how they’re living, and if this is how they continue to live, Well then it’s evident that the gospel has really had no effect upon them, and that their faith is a dead, fruitless faith. But for the true disciples of Jesus, it ought not to be so.

And so how are you planning for eternity? Are you being wise and living your life in preparation for the future of eternal glory that Christ promises you? You should. And you should pursue it with great diligence.

Lesson 2: Invest Earthly Wealth for Eternal Impact

The second lesson that Jesus makes and the ones that follow show how our view and use of money and wealth test our character and again reveal the security of our hearts and the focus of that. Whether we’re looking toward eternity or whether we’re living chiefly for this life.

In verse 9, Jesus urges his disciples to invest their wealth in things that will have an eternal impact, your own as well as others.

And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fall, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

Now we should note here that the unrighteous mammon isn’t ill-gotten gain. But in context, it’s referring to wealth which has value only in this life. It’s wealth and riches that you can’t take with you.

And Jesus charges us to follow the steward’s example and to invest such wealth into making friends. Now, is Jesus telling us to buy people’s friendships so they’ll be hospitable toward us? Well, not exactly. The contrast with the steward and the friends that he made by reducing their debts is that those friends that we make are going to be those who will receive us into an everlasting home.

That is, they’re going to be fellow believers in Christ. And they become our friends when we give generously to the work of the ministry and for the spread of the gospel. Because it’s by the gospel going forth that many will come to faith in Christ and become eternal friends.

Now this isn’t buying your way into heaven, nor is it buying others’ way in. We only get in, we know, by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But God uses the gifts and He uses the generosity of His people.

And we see this throughout the New Testament that the churches can be established and can minister in local communities. So that missionaries can go forth at home and abroad. So that the gospel can be proclaimed to people of all nations. and so that many will come to faith in Christ by hearing and believing that gospel message.

And so this is an investment with returns which go well beyond this life. And if you consider what God is doing in some of the missions and the works that we support and that our denomination supports in places like India and Pakistan and South Sudan and South America, the gospel of grace is spreading.

And many are coming to faith in Christ. How did that happen? Well, in part, due to the investment of our gifts and the gifts of many others into the various missions and ministries of the church.

And so this is what Jesus is talking about. Investing in the work of the gospel, whether it’s in India, in Chile, or even here in Bryan College Station.

These are investments with eternal implications and well worth supporting. And there are many places where we can spend our money and many things we can buy for ourselves or others. And again, some of these are necessary things, but others not so much.

But Jesus wants us to ask ourselves, when we spend our money, is the focus of our hearts purely on the temporal things of this life, where moth and rust will destroy? Or are we looking toward eternity? And the great blessing it will be when we’re greeted in glory by those who we’ve helped because of the gospel going forth, either directly or through our generous gifts to the work and ministry of the church.

And so where are you investing your wealth?

Lesson 3: Faithfulness in Little Things Reveals Character

The third lesson comes in verses 10 to 12 and is given as another test to determine the focus of our hearts.

If you’re faithful with a little, showing that you can manage it well and use it wisely, well then the character of your heart is revealed. And when given more, and that there’s an increase of responsibility, the expectation is that barring some dramatic change in your character, that you’re going to be faithful with much.

And so the little becomes the testing ground for the greater. But if someone is unfaithful with a little, well then you can certainly expect that they’re not going to do much better with a lot. And so it’s a very sound principle.

But note how Jesus gradually expands the principle in verse 11. If you aren’t faithful in using the wealth and money of this life wisely and generously, investing in the ways that we mentioned, then who will trust you with eternal riches. And if you can’t be trusted to care for something that belongs to someone else, well then why would you expect someone to give you something of your very own?

The boss of the parable, though he certainly admired the steward for his shrewdness, wasn’t about to give him his job back. The man had proven himself to be a dishonest. And he had serious character flaws because he wasn’t faithful with a little or a lot.

And so the key point that we should take from this is be faithful with what you’ve been given, whether it’s a little or a lot, whether it’s worthless or of eternal value, whether it belongs to someone else or is your very own.

God has given his people so much. He’s given us as individuals, our families, our congregation. He’s given us much. We should strive to be good and faithful stewards. Even if what we have is little and seemingly insignificant, God is testing our character and the focus of our heart’s security. Are we thinking only about the here and now or are we focused on eternity?

Let us be faithful with what we’ve been given, whether it’s a little or a lot.

Lesson 4: You Cannot Serve Two Masters

The final lesson that Jesus makes in relation to this parable is perhaps the most challenging. In verse 13,

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

The steward wasn’t serving his boss because he was only focused on himself and his own needs. He couldn’t do what was right and what was wrong at the same time. He could only do one or the other. Faithfully fulfilling his obligations to his boss or serving his own needs. Seeking righteousness or fraud. He could only serve one master and he chose to serve himself.

Yes, he was shrewd in securing his future, and we have to give him credit for that. But the focus of his heart was clearly on the temporal and not on the eternal.

And this choice would likely come back to haunt him. At some point, those debtors were going to get tired of supporting him. Sooner or later they’re going to declare, look, you know, you were very generous to me and I felt like you, I owed a debt to you, but, but I think that debt has been paid and they’re going to cast him out. Well, then where does that leave him?

It would have been better for him to put as much diligence, resourcefulness, and cleverness into his management responsibilities for his given. Because if he did, well, he would still have a job. But now he doesn’t. And though his plan was brilliant for a time, it wasn’t going to last because the future was just a little bit longer than he thought. His wisdom was only for the short term. He had no security for the long haul, even for eternity.

And so this is what Jesus is challenging here when he says, You cannot serve God and mammon. It’s impossible. You cannot be divided in your loyalty. It’s either wealth or God. Serving yourself or serving and bringing glory to God by serving others. It’s giving full pursuit to securing your temporal future with what will quickly fade away when this world fades away. or diligently pursuing the gift and the fruits of an eternal future which Jesus offers to you through the gospel.

You can’t serve both. You can only serve one. Which will it be?

Conclusion and Gospel Appeal

If you truly and eternally want to secure your future and turn from your sins, trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, and serve God with all you have, even if your life even with your very life, and you certainly will not be disappointed, not now in this life, nor forever in the eternal life in the glorious presence of God, all to the praise and glory of his name alone.

Let’s pray. Gracious God in heaven, we do rejoice to give thanks for your word and this challenge that you present to us this afternoon to consider, to examine, where our heart is. We focused on this life and the things of this world. Are we looking forward to that eternal hope and building up and storing our treasures in heaven where they’ll never be taken away? We know that we cannot serve both, but we can certainly use what you have given to us in this life. to serve you, to glorify you, to invest in the ministry of the gospel that you’ve called us to. And we pray that you would give us the diligence, the shrewdness that we might need to do that. as we trust in you to care for us, to provide for us, as we strive to be faithful in all things. Father, we pray that you pour out your blessing upon us as you apply these truths to each of our hearts, throwing us all closer to yourself. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.