Luke 16:1-13 (NRSV)
Sermon follows below
1Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.”
3Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.”
5So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?”
6He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.”
7Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?”
He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.”
He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.”
8And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
10Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
13No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’
Years ago I lived in Sheffield and I knew a guy called John. He was a wonderful Christian, and a very successful businessman.
Now in his younger years he’d lived in London –working as an accountant – and while he was there he acquired a reputation for his integrity. His honesty. In fact he got such a good reputation that he started to receive some quite interesting offers.
One was from a casino chain that employed a lot of scantily clad women. They were really struggling to recruit an honest chief accountant. So they approached John saying – “We’re forever being robbed by dodgy accountants. You’re a Christian, we’ve heard about your reputation. You’re known for being honest. So we’d like you to come and work for us.”
What would you do?
Well our gospel reading today is all about how we behave around money. And the key word to understanding it is there in v10. Do you see it? FAITHFUL. Are we being faithful to God with money?
If you’re here for the baptism today – that’s probably not what you expected to hear a sermon on. But the thing is – money is one of those defining issues in the Christian life.
Do you remember the end of the reading – Jesus said we cannot serve both God and wealth. He says that because he knows that it’s easy to look religious. You can fake piety, go to a bible study, sing enthusiastically. You can offer to lead stuff in church. But one thing that really reveals the true state of our hearts is what we do with our money.
So let’s take a look at what Jesus has for us today – and we’ll start back in v1.
There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property.
Now normally when you read a parable one character represents God, and another represents us. But that’s not the case with this story. Take a look at verse 8,
for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light (Luke 16:8)
Jesus calls both the rich man and the manager “children of this age” as opposed to “children of light.” He’s saying they’re both living outside the light of the Kingdom of God. So the rich man isn’t God. He’s just a rich man – who has a dishonest manager. A bit like the Playboy club I mentioned earlier.
And v2 he calls his manager in to find out why they aren’t making as much money as they should be.
So why isn’t the estate profitable? V1 – the manager is squandering it. He’s got the company credit card and he’s using it to feather his nest – fancy car – best hotels – all the things businessmen get into trouble over.
So the owner fires him and the manager goes back to clear his desk and has an idea. I’m guessing it’s the first good idea he’s had for a while. He digs out his contact book and starts ringing his boss’ suppliers – and says to them “If I write off part of what you owe my boss, Will you give me a job?” And he gets two job offers.
And here’s the punchline. When the rich man finds out – he’s actually quite impressed. Even though he’s been robbed –
the master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. (Luke 16:8)
Who remembers that BBC1 series Hustle? About a gang of con-men working in London? Every week they’d steal from someone – but the show convinced us that the theft was alright because they only robbed nasty people. And they did it with a bit of style and glamour.
That’s what the manager has done here. Stolen with style. And his former employer doesn’t mind – because if the situation were reversed it’s what he would have done.That’s probably how he got rich in the first place.
And that’s why – v8- Jesus calls them both “children of this age” as opposed to children of light.
So what are we meant to learn from this? Does Jesus want us to go and rip off our employers? No. This is about contrasts – so let’s look at v9-13 where we’ll find the three lessons Jesus wants us to learn about money. And let’s start at the end, in v13, where Jesus says,
you cannot serve God and wealth. (Luke 16:13)
His point is that ….
1) We all have to choose a team.
He’s saying that we all have a choice to make about which team we’re on. Are we going to be “children of the light” – in other words followers of Jesus – or are we going to carry on being “children of this age” – and live in darkness.
Do you notice how there’s no middle ground? As far as God is concerned you’re in the darkness until you come into the light. And the key to moving from the darkness into the light is Jesus and his death on the cross.
Later in our service– our baptism family here will make some promises about that choice. They’ll make a promise about turning away from evil and turning to Christ. They’ll declare that they have chosen a team.
But that promise is really only the beginning of the journey. Anyone can make a promise. The challenge Jesus is giving us is whether we will choose to keep that promise today and every day.
That sounds hard doesn’t it? But the good news is that we aren’t alone. When we give ourselves to God – when we choose his team – he helps us to live for him.
The Bible tells us that God comes and lives in us by his Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness, and to empower us to do the things he wants us to do.
Another thing the Holy Spirit does is bind us together with our Christian brothers and sisters. That’s why church matters – it’s not about religion or ritual – it’s about relationship. We’re a support network. A team. Team Jesus, the people of the light.
So choose a team.
The second lesson Jesus teaches us is that:
2) Faithfulness is rewarded.
That’s there in v10-11.
Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? (Luke 16:10-11)
Sometimes when you go for a job interview – you’re given a test to do. Well Jesus pictures the Christian life as a bit like a test. He’s saying – if we can be faithful to Jesus on a day-by-day basis – there’s a reward to come.
Jesus leaves it vague what that reward will be. It could be this life, it could be the next. It could be both. But the point is faithfulness is rewarded.
So what might faithfulness look like? Answer: the exact opposite of the manager in the parable.
Instead of squandering resources and robbing our boss – we are to act with honesty and integrity in everything. It’s about being trustworthy with money. Keeping promises. Making honest expenses claims. Working hard for your contracted hours. Not stealing the stationery. In other words, being completely reliable.
But it’s not just the workplace. You can be faithful with your sports team. Your school. Your club. Even with your friends. Just be honest. Loyal. Work hard. Keep your promises. And if you are at all responsible for other people’s property – treat it really really well.
The same ideas apply in business too. If the only way you can be an entrepreneur is by ripping off your customers it’s time to choose another business.
I mentioned John earlier. He turned the casino down – he wasn’t comfortable with gambling and some of the other things the club was known for and he moved back to Sheffield and bought into a business. And worked hard and honestly. He’s a millionaire now. Because faithfulness is rewarded.
Final lesson…
3) Spend your money on God’s priorities.
I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. (Luke 16:9)
Use your money to make friends who will welcome you into your eternal home. That’s heaven. This is about using whatever money you have to help build the Kingdom of God. So this could be about offering hospitality. Or giving to our church, To mission and evangelism. It’s about using whatever resources you have for Jesus’ sake.
You know in my last church we were in a very multicultural area of London, and one time we were approached by a family from a Muslim country where Christians are often imprisoned. And they wanted to be baptised in the name of Jesus. But they wanted to do it secretly because one of them- we’ll call him Ken – was going back to their country that week.
Isn’t that exciting? Scary too.
But well worth investing in. So as a church we hired a baptism pool and we also bought a load of copies of the Jesus movie on DVD, and we baptised his family and sent him back to his country with the DVDs.
One day when I turn up in heaven – I’m looking forward to meeting the people Ken and those DVDs influenced for Jesus.
[pause]There’s an old saying about money –
You can’t take it with you when you go. But you can send it on ahead.
And you do that, by
- Spending your money on God’s priorities.
- Because faithfulness is rewarded.
- When we choose to be on Jesus’ team.
Amen