This chapter awakens and quickens us to the way we manage all our possessions, the enjoyments in this world, and how we practice our Christianity faith. This calls to mind 1 John 3:17 NLT (spoken as First John 3:17) which says “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?”
But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 1 John 3:17 ESV
Conduits of His Grace
We are stewards of God’s grace in our lives. Everything He gives is because of His grace. The property is His. We look after and manage what God has given us. We should act wisely and be diligent to put everything to work for the kingdom through faith and generosity so that we store up our riches in heaven. (Luke 12:21, Matthew 6:20)
Verses 1-4 Jesus tells this a parable to remind his disciples to live and use earthly resources with heaven in mind.
A rich man had a manager who handled his business transactions, but the manager was careless and corrupt. He had been squandering his boss’s possessions and embezzling.
Improving All That God Entrusts To Us
Have we improved all that God has entrusted us with or have we been careless with it, too? Do we squander our money and resources, waste time and opportunities that He has given us, and therefore, forfeit the trust He has put in us?
When we look back on our lives to give an account for all that God gave us, do we see a life of giving, faith, and the fruits of living with our hands open and ready to help?
God gives us the life, ability, and opportunities to do good every day, giving, serving, and believing God receives the glory with all we are accomplishing. The sin in our hearts clings to everything it receives with a sense of entitlement. Our hearts filter God’s good things through faith to those who need it.
So the rich man called in his manager to fire him. The manager may have been dishonest, but he was also smart. Immediately, the wheels in his mind started spinning: what will I do? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m too ashamed to beg. Maybe he didn’t have the physique to be a ditch digger, or the skill to do it, or perhaps he was too lazy. He was a white-collar who didn’t want to give up his lifestyle. Too proud to stand on the street with a tin cup, he needed a plan so that when his job was gone, people would welcome him into their homes and provide for him.
Consequences Are Sure
Before he started down the path of unfaithfulness toward his boss, he should have been thinking about this. But the possibility of consequences rarely sways the allure of sin.
Verses 5-7 The manager determines to make friends with his boss’s tenants, or people who owe the boss money, so they will want to give him a place to stay. The manager went to every person who owed his master money and cut deals with them. To one who owed 100 measures of olive oil, he had him write 50 on his invoice. To another who owed 100 measures of wheat, he told them to pay 80. Clearly, he was being dishonest toward his employer, but he wasn’t trying to get his job back. He was trying to win over his boss’s debtors so that they might take him in or give him a job.
Seeking The Truth
Isn’t it interesting that no one questions the reduction of debt? Each one of these debtors just accepts what the manager says. Maybe they don’t want to know why their debt is now less. These debtors are cheating the master out of money that is fully owed, but no one wants to see or know about the deception that is being done. They are so greedy themselves that all they care about is that the debt is lower now.
We should always seek the Truth, even if it appears to be a disservice to us. When God can trust us with the little, He will open up flood gates to a lot. These debtors accepted a scandal to cheat the rich man without asking questions because of their shortsighted thinking that showed they would benefit from the wrong.)
Taking Advantage of Opportunities
Verse 8 Later, his master praised the unrighteous manager—not because he was faithful—but because he had acted with a clever and sharp mind. When he was out of a job, he cleverly provided for his future. He took advantage of an opportunity that provided for his future by using the resources he had. He is not being praised for how he cheated his master, but for how he acted wisely for himself.
This calls us to question how we evaluate opportunities in our lives. Are we wise, squeezing all we can get from the gifts and opportunities given to us? Do we look at how we can improve it?
Jesus then told his disciples the lesson behind the parable: the children of this age are more shrewd/clever/wise than the children of light. Unbelievers are often sharper than believers.
As children of light, we should use wisdom as we lay up our treasures in heaven. Look how ambitious worldly people are about the concerns in this lifetime. The world “hustles” for gains. We can apply this principle to our opportunities for sharing the gospel, seeing lost souls saved, seeking places to employ our spiritual gifts/talents, and investing all we have in faith.
This world often outperforms those serving Jesus. Look at the entertainment world. Worldly productions, movies, and music surpass Christian entertainment. Not that worldly people are right. They simply use all they have to improve everything in this world. Christians often see life on earth as a pit stop to heaven. Believers don’t use everything they have in this life like it’s all they got.
Benefiting Tomorrow By Preparing Today
Verse 9 Worldly people make investments and gain interest in their money so they can do more with it. This is how Christians can apply this principle. Manage all we have, not just for the benefit today but for future benefit. Knowing money can run out and disappoint, we don’t put our trust and satisfaction in our gains. We use what we have to honor God, trust Him, and do good for others so that we store good security in heaven. We prepare for eternity by putting every resource to good use.
“Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.” 1 Timothy 6:17-19 NLT
With Eternity In Mind
Though the manager had messed up his past, the man cunningly set things in motion to secure his future. Jesus reminded his disciples that we are all stewards of our earthly resources, not owners of them. So we should use our possessions and earthly resources wisely and generously with eternity in mind. When we use our worldly wealth for righteous living, it transforms lives.
Verses 10-13 Jesus spoke a principle that we often see shown in life. Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much. Likewise, the one who is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. If we are not dependable on the small things, we will not likely be dependable on more significant ones. So if we’re unfaithful in our use of worldly wealth, who will trust us with the spiritual things, like God’s grace, His Word, and His people?
What We Do With Worldly Gains Can Affect Our Spiritual Gifts
God’s grace and glory are so much greater than the riches on this earth. If we are unfaithful with the riches God gives and we use worldly gains for selfish purposes, then it’s a natural conclusion that we would do this with the spiritual gifts God gives us. We might use spiritual privileges for vanity and notoriety. So we should watch how we treat our worldly resources because when we are faithful with the lessor things in God’s eyes, He will entrust us with the riches of his heavenly things.
Beware of Burying Wealth
Those who serve God and do good with their money will serve God and do good with the more noble and valuable talents of wisdom, grace, spiritual gifts, and lost souls. But those who bury the one talent of this world’s wealth will never improve the five talents of spiritual riches.
Rearranging Richness
Those who are truly rich are rich in faith, rich towards God, rich in Christ, in the promises, and in the convictions of heaven. We should put our treasure in Him, expect our strength and comfort from his supply, and keep the kingdom of God and his righteousness first in our lives so that we may be qualified to receive even more grace from Him. We should be generous and wise with all that God gives us so that He will entrust more to us. The spiritual and eternal riches we receive from making good on all of God’s resources can never depart from us. We take them with us to the next life.
Serving God With Our Stuff
We must be trustworthy with what God has loaned us in this life if we expect to receive anything of true value in eternity. And the only way to use money and possessions is to use them in service to God. We cannot have two masters. We cannot serve both God and money. Either our money will serve God, or we will ask God to serve our money. We should live our lives and use our resources with eternity in mind.
We prove ourselves as loyal servants of God by giving up ourselves entirely to His service to make all our worldly gains serve Him.
If we love the world, we will despise God and his laws. We will make religion and God serve our secular interests, to help us serve our selfish needs and seek the world.
If we love God and stay close to him, we will despise anything that competes with God. We will make all our work and success in the world serve God.
Prayer
Jesus, I set my heart on serving you. Open my eyes, Holy Spirit, and help me examine my heart for any misuse of the gifts and resources you have given me. I want to live and use my earthly resources with heaven in mind. Help me steward your grace in my life by using everything you’ve entrusted to me. Show me where I can invest in lives, invest my talents, and invest in the things of this world to work for your kingdom. Give me wisdom and knowledge to manage the small things I have, to act responsibly, and be diligent in furthering everything for the work of faith and generosity for the glory of Your name. My riches are in heaven with you, Jesus.
Help me improve every opportunity, talent, skill, resource, the time that you’ve trusted me with. I want to be more generous with my money, my home, my time, my skills and talents, my family, my car, with everything you’ve put in my possession to manage. Sharpen my mind and help me be clever and creative, Holy Spirit, to secure my future in heaven by being ambitious with all the treasures I have here on earth. I want to see a harvest in heaven because of the dividends invested here on earth. Help me improve everything my hands touch for the glory of your name, Jesus. I don’t want to bury the grace you’ve given me, Jesus. My family is your grace in my life. The roof over my head, the car I drive, the money in my bank account, the food I eat, the skills and talents I possess, the time I have, the breath in my lungs, these are all your grace for me. Help me improve them, Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.