Does Jesus Commend Dishonesty in Luke 16?

00:00:00.000 | Well, over a dozen email questions have arrived in the inbox from listeners who want to better

00:00:08.440 | understand Jesus's parable in the first half of Luke 16.

00:00:13.180 | Isn't Jesus celebrating dishonesty?

00:00:16.220 | It seems to be the case.

00:00:17.740 | Matt in Oklahoma writes in to ask us this question.

00:00:20.780 | Hello, Pastor John.

00:00:21.780 | How do you understand and explain the parable of the dishonest manager in Luke 16, 1-13?

00:00:27.580 | This one is a real head scratcher for me.

00:00:29.860 | What does it mean and what are the implications for Christians today?

00:00:34.260 | Let's put the parable in front of us because my guess is a lot of folks don't know the

00:00:37.580 | specifics of what he's referring to.

00:00:40.500 | And as I read just a few verses of this parable, be asking the question, now what's the positive

00:00:47.440 | lesson Jesus might draw out of sinful behavior?

00:00:52.740 | Because that's the issue here.

00:00:54.740 | So here's what it says.

00:00:55.900 | Jesus said to his disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager," like a steward

00:01:00.980 | who ran his business, "and charges were brought to him that this man," this manager, "was

00:01:07.780 | wasting his possessions.

00:01:10.860 | And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you?

00:01:15.380 | Turn in the account of your management.

00:01:17.100 | You can no longer be manager.'"

00:01:18.420 | In other words, you're fired.

00:01:19.660 | "And the manager said to himself, 'Whoa, what shall I do?

00:01:24.100 | Since my master is taking away my management, I'm not strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed

00:01:30.100 | to beg.

00:01:31.940 | So I have decided what to do so that when I am removed from the management, people will

00:01:37.620 | receive me into their houses.'"

00:01:40.460 | So here's what he does.

00:01:41.460 | "Summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first one, 'How much do you

00:01:45.580 | owe my master?'

00:01:46.580 | And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.'

00:01:48.700 | And he said, 'Take your bill quickly and write down fifty, not a hundred.'

00:01:54.060 | Then he said to another, 'How much do you owe my master?'

00:01:56.460 | He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.'

00:01:58.500 | He said, 'Take your bill quickly and write eighty.'

00:02:02.260 | The master," when he found out about this, "the master commended the dishonest manager

00:02:09.020 | for his shrewdness."

00:02:11.820 | End of parable.

00:02:13.440 | So you see the situation.

00:02:14.780 | A manager's fired, but before he leaves, he negotiates with the creditors of the owner,

00:02:22.100 | the debtors of the owner, to sign new contracts so that they owe the owner less than they

00:02:30.220 | really do.

00:02:31.220 | They think that's cool.

00:02:33.340 | And the manager hopes that these debtors will feel obliged to him so that when he's jobless,

00:02:42.300 | they'll help him out.

00:02:43.980 | So the deceitful manager uses his wits to figure out a way to manipulate money so as

00:02:51.580 | to secure his future.

00:02:54.340 | That's the gist.

00:02:56.860 | We don't know how the story really ends, what happens after this encounter.

00:03:00.740 | We just know that when the master found out how clever this guy was, he said something

00:03:06.300 | like, 'Well, that's clever.

00:03:08.980 | That was shrewd.'

00:03:11.060 | Now what will Jesus fasten on with the parable?

00:03:15.340 | He makes two comments.

00:03:17.580 | Number one, verse eight, "The sons of this world"—that's the unbelievers, people who

00:03:24.340 | don't follow Jesus—"the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their

00:03:30.460 | own generation than the sons of light."

00:03:33.940 | I think the point of saying that is this.

00:03:37.500 | It may be true, you poor, benighted Christians who don't know how to be smart in this world's

00:03:44.540 | affairs.

00:03:45.540 | That may be true, but guess what?

00:03:47.460 | It is utterly insignificant compared to the wisdom I am about to teach you in the next

00:03:55.060 | verse about how to use money to secure your future, namely your ultimate future, your

00:04:00.380 | eternal future.

00:04:01.940 | So okay, so maybe you aren't that shrewd when it comes to the stock market, but guess

00:04:06.780 | what?

00:04:07.780 | Who cares?

00:04:08.780 | Who cares?

00:04:09.780 | You've got a billion years to enjoy your investment.

00:04:12.540 | These folks, they're going to lose theirs in 80.

00:04:15.580 | And here's what he says.

00:04:16.580 | This is the next, second thing he says, next verse, verse nine, "You think that was shrewd?"

00:04:22.620 | This is my paraphrase.

00:04:23.620 | "You think that was shrewd?

00:04:26.060 | Let me tell you what's shrewd."

00:04:28.060 | And here's what he says, "I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous

00:04:34.540 | wealth so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings."

00:04:44.500 | So there are two pointers in that verse to show why this is infinitely more shrewd, infinitely

00:04:50.940 | more wise than the shrewdness of the deceitful manager.

00:04:55.020 | Number one, the first clue is eternal, the word eternal, that they may receive you into

00:05:01.340 | eternal dwellings.

00:05:02.620 | In other words, Jesus is telling these disciples not just to secure their earthly future.

00:05:08.900 | That's all this guy could do.

00:05:09.900 | Hopefully they'll, you know, give me a little help when I'm jobless.

00:05:13.480 | This is Jesus' way of saying, "You need help with your joblessness in eternity, and I'm

00:05:18.860 | telling you how to have a house, a place to live with joy and satisfaction in fellowship

00:05:24.700 | with God's people forever.

00:05:26.860 | That's the way to use your money.

00:05:28.100 | Use your money to secure that."

00:05:31.220 | That's the first clue, eternal.

00:05:32.340 | Here's the second pointer, the little phrase, "When it fails."

00:05:38.420 | In other words, all this so-called shrewdness of the deceitful manager is going to come

00:05:42.820 | to nothing because it's based on wealth that will fail.

00:05:48.300 | So Jesus is saying, "Use money," when he calls it unrighteous mammon or unrighteous

00:05:54.740 | wealth, he simply means this is part of the unrighteous world in which you live.

00:05:58.240 | Take hold of it and use it for eternal spiritual purposes, namely to provide security in eternity.

00:06:06.840 | And what does that mean?

00:06:07.840 | What does that mean?

00:06:08.840 | How do you do that?

00:06:09.840 | How do you use money to secure eternal dwellings with friends?

00:06:15.600 | And the clue is, when you look at that phrase, "When it fails," it triggers the word "fails"

00:06:23.240 | back in Luke 12:33.

00:06:25.800 | Here's what that says.

00:06:26.960 | "Sell your possessions, give to the needy, provide yourselves with money bags that do

00:06:34.600 | not grow old, where they treasure in the heavens, that does not fail, where no thief approaches

00:06:43.080 | and no moth destroys."

00:06:45.840 | That's Luke 12:33.

00:06:47.640 | So making friends with money means using your money to meet people's needs.

00:06:57.920 | That's the way to lay up treasure in heaven that does not fail.

00:07:03.240 | Or as Jesus says in Luke 16, "Some of those people will be converted and will go before

00:07:09.280 | you into heaven and welcome you there with great joy to join them in eternal dwelling."

00:07:16.480 | So here's the basic point.

00:07:19.360 | Don't worry about being a shrewd investor in this age where you can only provide a future

00:07:27.100 | that will fail.

00:07:28.840 | Instead, be a really shrewd investor.

00:07:33.800 | Invest in people's lives by using your resources to do as much good as you can for the glory

00:07:41.600 | of God and the eternal good of others who will go before you and welcome you home.

00:07:48.560 | Thank you for unlocking this text for us, Pastor John.

00:07:51.640 | And Matt, thank you for sending the question into us.

00:07:53.960 | And thanks to everyone who has asked about this parable over the years to our inbox.

00:07:57.800 | I really appreciate those questions, and I'm happy that we could finally answer this one.

00:08:02.240 | Thanks to everyone who listens to the podcast as well.

00:08:05.000 | Over at our online home, you can explore all 1,300 of our past episodes.

00:08:09.120 | You can scan a list for our most popular ones, even read full transcripts, and even send

00:08:13.400 | us a question that you may have on this or other parables.

00:08:16.800 | Go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:08:20.800 | Also be sure to subscribe to the Ask Pastor John podcast in your favorite podcast app.

00:08:25.760 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and we will see you back here on Friday.

00:08:29.600 | [END]

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Does Jesus Commend Dishonesty in Luke 16?

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