Well, over a dozen email questions have arrived in the inbox from listeners who want to better understand Jesus's parable in the first half of Luke 16. Isn't Jesus celebrating dishonesty? It seems to be the case. Matt in Oklahoma writes in to ask us this question. Hello, Pastor John. How do you understand and explain the parable of the dishonest manager in Luke 16, 1-13?

This one is a real head scratcher for me. What does it mean and what are the implications for Christians today? Let's put the parable in front of us because my guess is a lot of folks don't know the specifics of what he's referring to. And as I read just a few verses of this parable, be asking the question, now what's the positive lesson Jesus might draw out of sinful behavior?

Because that's the issue here. So here's what it says. Jesus said to his disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager," like a steward who ran his business, "and charges were brought to him that this man," this manager, "was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you?

Turn in the account of your management. You can no longer be manager.'" In other words, you're fired. "And the manager said to himself, 'Whoa, what shall I do? Since my master is taking away my management, I'm not strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg. So I have decided what to do so that when I am removed from the management, people will receive me into their houses.'" So here's what he does.

"Summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first one, 'How much do you owe my master?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said, 'Take your bill quickly and write down fifty, not a hundred.' Then he said to another, 'How much do you owe my master?' He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said, 'Take your bill quickly and write eighty.' The master," when he found out about this, "the master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness." End of parable.

So you see the situation. A manager's fired, but before he leaves, he negotiates with the creditors of the owner, the debtors of the owner, to sign new contracts so that they owe the owner less than they really do. They think that's cool. And the manager hopes that these debtors will feel obliged to him so that when he's jobless, they'll help him out.

So the deceitful manager uses his wits to figure out a way to manipulate money so as to secure his future. That's the gist. We don't know how the story really ends, what happens after this encounter. We just know that when the master found out how clever this guy was, he said something like, 'Well, that's clever.

That was shrewd.' Now what will Jesus fasten on with the parable? He makes two comments. Number one, verse eight, "The sons of this world"—that's the unbelievers, people who don't follow Jesus—"the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light." I think the point of saying that is this.

It may be true, you poor, benighted Christians who don't know how to be smart in this world's affairs. That may be true, but guess what? It is utterly insignificant compared to the wisdom I am about to teach you in the next verse about how to use money to secure your future, namely your ultimate future, your eternal future.

So okay, so maybe you aren't that shrewd when it comes to the stock market, but guess what? Who cares? Who cares? You've got a billion years to enjoy your investment. These folks, they're going to lose theirs in 80. And here's what he says. This is the next, second thing he says, next verse, verse nine, "You think that was shrewd?" This is my paraphrase.

"You think that was shrewd? Let me tell you what's shrewd." And here's what he says, "I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings." So there are two pointers in that verse to show why this is infinitely more shrewd, infinitely more wise than the shrewdness of the deceitful manager.

Number one, the first clue is eternal, the word eternal, that they may receive you into eternal dwellings. In other words, Jesus is telling these disciples not just to secure their earthly future. That's all this guy could do. Hopefully they'll, you know, give me a little help when I'm jobless.

This is Jesus' way of saying, "You need help with your joblessness in eternity, and I'm telling you how to have a house, a place to live with joy and satisfaction in fellowship with God's people forever. That's the way to use your money. Use your money to secure that." That's the first clue, eternal.

Here's the second pointer, the little phrase, "When it fails." In other words, all this so-called shrewdness of the deceitful manager is going to come to nothing because it's based on wealth that will fail. So Jesus is saying, "Use money," when he calls it unrighteous mammon or unrighteous wealth, he simply means this is part of the unrighteous world in which you live.

Take hold of it and use it for eternal spiritual purposes, namely to provide security in eternity. And what does that mean? What does that mean? How do you do that? How do you use money to secure eternal dwellings with friends? And the clue is, when you look at that phrase, "When it fails," it triggers the word "fails" back in Luke 12:33.

Here's what that says. "Sell your possessions, give to the needy, provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, where they treasure in the heavens, that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys." That's Luke 12:33. So making friends with money means using your money to meet people's needs.

That's the way to lay up treasure in heaven that does not fail. Or as Jesus says in Luke 16, "Some of those people will be converted and will go before you into heaven and welcome you there with great joy to join them in eternal dwelling." So here's the basic point.

Don't worry about being a shrewd investor in this age where you can only provide a future that will fail. Instead, be a really shrewd investor. Invest in people's lives by using your resources to do as much good as you can for the glory of God and the eternal good of others who will go before you and welcome you home.

Thank you for unlocking this text for us, Pastor John. And Matt, thank you for sending the question into us. And thanks to everyone who has asked about this parable over the years to our inbox. I really appreciate those questions, and I'm happy that we could finally answer this one.

Thanks to everyone who listens to the podcast as well. Over at our online home, you can explore all 1,300 of our past episodes. You can scan a list for our most popular ones, even read full transcripts, and even send us a question that you may have on this or other parables.

Go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. Also be sure to subscribe to the Ask Pastor John podcast in your favorite podcast app. I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and we will see you back here on Friday. 1 Desiring God.org/AskPastorJohn 1.0 - Desiring God.org - Ask Pastor John.