Sermon on Luke 16:1-13

Braden Jacquot

Homiletics Class • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

Luke 16:1–13

Money

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This is a short sermon for homiletics class

Notes

Transcript

Introduction:

All of us, even as Christians, has a tendency to want to spend money on things that do not matter very much

-We’ve all talked ourselves into a purchase that we really didn’t need, although if you’re married, it probably doesn’t happen as often as it used to when you were single

-Maybe it was that piece or workout equipment you used for 3 weeks

-Maybe it was that nice pair or headphones, even though you already had some

-Maybe it was that new video game that you knew would take up way more time than it probably should

-We all can struggle with materialistic desires that our inherent to our sinful nature

-Sometimes we just like to spend money

-Well, Jesus tells a parable where he encourages his followers to spend money

-What is it that Jesus encourages his followers to spend their money on?

Let’s walk through this parable and then see Jesus’ own application to this parable for his followers:

1. The Parable of the Steward

A. The brevity of time (vs. 1-3)

-Notice first of all the brevity of time

-Jesus opens this parable with no introduction or explanation

-He simply launches into a story

-In this story, the first character we meet is a rich man

-What is important about the rich man is that he receives an accusation about one of his employees

-And here, we meet the second character of the story, the main character who Jesus places at center stage of the parable

-This man is a manager or a steward, someone who was responsible for at least some of the money and business decisions of the rich man

-This man has been accused of squandering, or mishandling, the resources of the rich man

-The rich man calls the manager in and tells him that he is to make a final accounting of his master’s resources since he will be shortly released from employment

-This is the conflict of the plot, the problem that must be overcome by the main character

-Panic begins to set in, as the steward feels himself up against the clock

-In verse 3, he admits that he finds himself in a hard situation

-His job will soon be over, and neither manual labor nor begging is a plausible option

-He feels the urgency of the limited time he has left in his position

-Soon, the resources that he has enjoyed in this period of life will no longer be his to control

How can he leverage these precious resources to help himself when his employment is over?

B. The goal to attain (vs. 4)

-Notice that the manager clearly understands his goal:

-In the short time he has left, he must find a way to leverage his resources to get people to welcome him into their homes

-He wants to be taken care of so that he doesn’t have to dig or beg

-The goal is to use the resources available to him in this short period of time to set himself up for future success

So, notice what he does to attain the goal:

C. The plan of action (vs. 5-7)

-With a sense of urgency, the manager summons each of the debtors of his master

-One man comes, owing the rich man a hundred measures of oil

-But the manager tells him to quickly write 50 instead

-The next man comes, owing a hundred measures of wheat

-But the manager says to reduce the invoice to 80

-The manager is using his position, which he is shortly to lose, to do favors and make friends of people in the community

How do we know this?

-Because the goal for this, as stated in verse 4, was that so to make these people his friends so they will welcome him into their homes

-Reciprocity was a big deal in the culture of the day, and these people would desire to return the favor and kindness that the manager showed to them

This brings us to the surprising and somewhat abrupt end of the parable

D. The evaluation of the master

-The rich man actually praises and commends the manager for his wise actions

-Now, many people believe that this manager has just cheated the rich man out of a good chunk of resources that was owed to him

-This is why the parable is often called “the parable of the unjust steward”

-This is a reasonable assumption, and we don’t have time to dive into all the differing opinions and options of the ethics of this manager

-So why would the rich man praise the manager?

-Notice specifically what he praises him for:

-He praises him for acting “astutely”

-The rich man, although he may have just been cheated out of some money, can’t help but admire how wisely and advantageously the manager has acted.

-He has used his limited time left of influence to set himself up bountifully with the people in the community

Now, we may have many questions from this parable about the morality and ethics of the manager and the rich man

-There are many unanswered questions regarding this parable

But what does Jesus focus on?

How does he apply this parable to the lives his followers?

2. The application of the Savior

A. The Example of the Unsaved

In Jesus’ application, notice how he first commends unsaved people for their shrewdness

-In the last half of verse 8, Jesus acknowledges that the sons of this age (the unsaved) are more shrewd than the sons of light (those who are Christ followers)

-Now, Jesus is not commending any shady business dealings

-But what Jesus is pointing out is that unsaved people are often far better at leveraging their money towards their earthly goals than saved people are at leveraging their money towards their eternal goals

Notice next how Jesus exhorts his followers:

B. The Exhortation for Christ-followers

Vs. 9

This is Jesus own application of His parable!

-This is him telling us exactly what the point of the story was and how to apply it!

He tells his followers that they are to use their money to make friends

You’ve often hear that money can’t buy friendship

-But here, Jesus seems to disagree with that, at least to a certain extent

-We can use our money to help build friendships and relationships with people for the purpose of sharing the Gospel with them

-You can use your money to take your unsaved coworker out to eat

-You can use your money to buy your unsaved cousin a birthday gift

-You can use your money to go out to topgolf with an unsaved friend

-Notice the contrast that Jesus makes between money that fails and dwellings that are eternal

-You see, one day, your money will run out

-Or, you’ll die and no longer be able to spend it

-Money is a temporary thing

-But the souls of men will live forever some day

-Our time is short, so why not use our money which is not eternal, to build friendships and evangelize so that those souls who here the Gospel will live with Christ eternally?

-In the exact same way that the steward new his time was short and therefore used his resources accordingly to prepare for his next life, Christians are to recognize their short time on earth and use their money to prepare for eternal life

But what if I don’t have a lot of money? Here’s Jesus’ encouragement:

C. The Requirement of Faithfulness

-Jesus encourages us to faithfulness

-Be faithful with what money you do have

-The point of verses 11-12 is simply that if we are not being faithful with our own temporal riches on earth, why would He entrust us with His eternal treasures?

-Regardless of whether you have much, or have little (which probably is where most of us in seminary find ourselves), we are to be faithful to use our money to make friends and share the Gospel with them

Which brings us to Jesus’ last exhortation:

D. The Choice of Masters

-We can only serve God or serve money, but we can’t do both

-Because of our fallen condition, we have a natural tendency to spend our money selfishly on things that are only of earthly good

-Now, there is nothing inherently wrong about buying clothes or a new phone, or things that are fun

-But we can quickly fall into the sin of loving our stuff more than loving Christ

-And Christ is exhorting us to spend our money on what matters to Him: seeing people saved

-I want to encourage us to repent if we have been materialistic with our money

-Christ can forgive us and set us free to be His slave instead of a slave to money

-let’s love Christ and show that love by taking that co-worker out to eat

-let’s buy that gift for that unsaved relative

-Let’s use our money to make friends, because the time is short

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