Sermon text: Luke 16:1–13
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
“And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”
This is one of the strangest sayings of Jesus in all the Gospels. It sounds, at first hearing, as if our Lord were commending dishonesty — as if He were telling us to be shrewd in the way the world is shrewd. But He is doing nothing of the sort. To understand what He means, we must hear the whole parable: the parable of the dishonest manager.
“There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'”
The manager is caught. He has been wasting his master’s goods, and now the day of reckoning has come. He cannot dig; he is ashamed to beg. So what does he do? He acts — decisively, shrewdly, urgently. He calls in his master’s debtors, one by one, and reduces their bills: “Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.” “Take your bill and write eighty.”
He is, by any earthly standard, dishonest. He is cheating his master a second time. And yet — “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.”
Why? Not because the master approves of dishonesty. But because the manager, facing the end of his stewardship, acted with urgency and decisiveness. He understood that his time was short, and he used what he had — even unrighteous wealth — to secure his future. “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.”
And here is our Lord’s point: “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”
We are all stewards. Everything we have — our money, our possessions, our time, our talents — belongs not to us but to God. We are managers of His goods. And like the manager in the parable, our stewardship will one day come to an end. We will be called to turn in the account of our management.
The question is: will we be shrewd? Not shrewd in dishonesty — God forbid — but shrewd in the way we use the things of this world for the things of the next. Will we use our unrighteous wealth — our money, which belongs to this fallen world — to make friends for eternity? Will we give to the poor? Will we support the preaching of the Gospel? Will we use what God has entrusted to us not to build bigger barns for ourselves, but to build up the kingdom?
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”
Faithfulness in little things. This is the mark of the Christian steward. Not spectacular acts of generosity performed for the applause of men, but quiet, consistent faithfulness: the offering given week after week, the alms given in secret, the time given to prayer and to the Word, the possessions shared with the neighbor in need.
“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
There it is. The choice that every steward must make. You cannot serve God and money. You cannot have two masters. Either money is your servant, used for the kingdom, or money is your master, and you are its slave.
The dishonest manager served money. He wasted his master’s goods on himself. But when the end came, he was shrewd enough to use what remained to secure his future. How much more should we — who know that our stewardship will end, who know that this world and its wealth will fail — how much more should we use what God has given us to secure not a house on earth, but a dwelling in heaven?
“Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” Give, and it will be given to you. Use the things of this world for the world to come. Be a faithful steward.
For the true riches — the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of Christ, the eternal dwellings — these are not bought with money. They are given by grace. But the one who is faithful in the little things of this world shows that he is ready for the true riches of the next.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.