When the man heard the phone ring, his stomach began to turn. Something told him this was the call he had been dreading, “Sir, I’m calling from the bank to let you know we are foreclosing on your home. You are going to be evicted in one week.”
The man began to beg, “You can’t do this. I haven’t been able to find work since I was laid off and I have nowhere to take my wife and children.” But the banker replied, “Sir, I am sorry there is nothing I can do.”
For a moment the man sat there stunned, but he then kicked into survival mode. Grabbing his tools, he began dismantling the light fixtures and removing the non-essential appliances. The next day, he dragged them into his yard and sold them in a yard sale. The items moved quickly, and once the last item was gone, the man went to work removing his air-conditioning units, which he promptly sold to a buyer for a very handsome price. After the transaction was complete, he drove into town to sell light bulbs, shutters, windows, toilets and even the hot water heater.
The day the bank official came to evict him, the man and his family had already evacuated the premises. Upon leaving, they took the money they had and rented an apartment, which they filled up with enough groceries for a month. Later that evening the banker was telling this man’s story to his wife.
“What do you think about the man who did this?” she asked. He thought for a moment. “In a way,” he replied. “I kind of admire him.” “What!?” She said, “How can you admire someone like that?” “Well,” the banker replied, “At least he did what he could with what he had today to prepare for tomorrow.”
This story is actually a modern retelling of a parable that is notoriously difficult. [Turn to Luke 16]. One Bible scholar listed at least seventeen different interpretations of this parable. We are looking at it in a series called, “Snapshots”. You know, a picture is worth a thousand words and Jesus was the Master picture painter. His mouth was a brush that could paint across the canvas of life – unbelievable snapshots of what the Kingdom of God and the God of the kingdom looks like. He did it in stories called “parables.”
If you have never read this particular parable, don’t be surprised if you think to yourself, “I’m not sure this belongs in the Bible.” The reason is simple. On the surface, the parable appears to present a story of an account manager who cheated his boss and is commended by Jesus for being a liar and a thief. (Come to think of it—in today’s culture maybe this story would be right at home!) Now we know the giver of the Ten Commandments would never commend either one, but it is that very aspect of the story that makes this parable both difficult and fascinating.
You may have already figured out that Jesus is addressing one of his favorite topics, which is money. In fact, I have told you before that Jesus taught more about money than He did any other topic. He taught more about money than He did about heaven or hell. Do you know why? Because He knew that most of us are more concerned about money than we are heaven or hell.
Jesus didn’t talk about money because He was obsessed with it. He talked about money, because He knew we would be obsessed with it. One of the reasons why He told this particular parable is because of a special group in the crowd that was listening to it.
“The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.” (Luke 16:14, ESV)
This parable is directed especially to people who love money. Let’s just be honest, that’s most of us in this room. My departed friend, Zig Ziglar, used to say, “I know what it is not to have money and I know what it is to have money. On the whole, it is a lot better to have money.” I want you to look at everything that you have, whether it is your money, your house, your car, your clothes, real estate, stocks, your bonds, your 401K and remember this key thought. Key Take Away: One day I will have to give an account for my accounts, so I had better account for my accounts wisely. There are two simple lessons that we learn from this parable that will help put everything that we have in its proper perspective.
I. We Are Accountable For the Management Of What We Have
Now pay close attention to this story, because it not only has a surprise twist, but a shocking ending. It all revolves around a manager.
“He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.” (Luke 16:1, ESV)
The Greek word for “manager” actually comes from two words. One word meaning “house” and the other word meaning “to manage.” This person literally is a “house-manager.”
In Bible days, rich people would often appoint managers. They were actually called “stewards”. They were given the full power of attorney to act in the name of the master. They controlled all of the assets. They represented the master in every business transaction. They were given full authority to deal with the debtors and the creditors. They had only one job – to manage the assets that the master had placed in their hands.
This is important. The manager in this story owned nothing, though he was in charge of everything. There were two things this manager knew. One, not a dime of what he managed belonged to him. Second, he was being watched and would have to give an account for what he did with what he had. Remember we are in every parable and we are the manager. So making this personal, everything we have is loaned, not owned. To put it another way, you are a manager of everything and an owner of nothing. Remember, the manager always has to give an account to the owner. Though normally, it was the job of the manager to tell others when their bills had come due, now the owner is telling the manager his bill has come due.
“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.’” (Luke 16:2, ESV)
Somehow this rich man had gotten word that this man had been mismanaging his money. We are not told specifically what the manager had done. We don’t know if he had done something unethical or simply made some poor judgments or financial miscalculations. Regardless, an audit of the books showed they did not balance and he was called to give an account. The Greek word translated “account” literally means “the account books.” The manager is not asked to balance the books, but to turn them in. In other words, he is fired on the spot. Remember we are the manager. Just like this manager, one day we will have to give an account for our accounts. I don’t mean just our money, but I mean our very lives. Romans 14:12 says, “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12, ESV)
You won’t just give an account to God of your money. You are going to give an account to God of yourself.
The manager knows everything has hit the fan. He is in big trouble. For a moment, he reacts the same way you and I would react. He hits the panic button.
“And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.’” (Luke 16:3, ESV)
The manager is honest. He is too lazy to dig and too proud to beg. He is a white-collar guy who refuses to go back to a blue-collar world. He asks the key question, “What shall I do?” In other words, “What am I going to do with what I have today to get ready for the tomorrow that I know is going to come?” That leads to the second lesson -
II. We Are Responsible To the Master Of What We Have
“‘I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’” (Luke 16:4-7, ESV)
The debt that was owed was very large. A hundred measures of oil would be equivalent to about 800 gallons which would be equal to about three years wages of an average worker. A hundred measures of wheat would be almost 1100 bushels. That would be enough to feed 150 people for a year. In other words about 7 ½ years’ wages for an average worker. In both cases, the manager reduces the bill by roughly the same amount (about 2 years wages for an average worker), but there is more to it than that.
The going interest rate on oil that was borrowed was 100%. Interest on borrowed wheat was 25%. You will notice that the manager reduces what is owed by exactly the amount of the interest that was charged. In other words, the manager transforms these debts into interest-free loans. Just imagine that a man shows up at your doorstep, asks to look at your mortgage agreement, tears it up, and tells you from now on all you will pay is principal and you will never pay interest again. You think you and that guy might become best buddies?
This manager with one stroke of the pen had turned his clients into best buddies and the way he did it was so clever. When he asked these debtors, “How much do you owe my master?” He wasn’t asking for information. He already knew that. It was the job of the manager to know exactly what was in every account. He wants to make sure, first of all, that they both agree on how much they owe. He then has them to record the transaction in their own handwriting, so when the owner looks at the accounts, he will recognize the handwriting and know these renters have made the deal and accepted the terms.
But it gets better. These clients assume that the manager is doing this at the request of the master. Not only did this man make some brand new friends he could count on. Not only did he have some I.O.U’s he could call in, because these people owed him big-time, but something else happened. These clients go back to the village and share what has happened to them with all of their friends. Word spreads about this generous owner who was known as a penny-pincher, who charged top dollar, and now he has just made huge reductions in what they owe and he is the hero of the town!
Now that you understand what this manager has done, you understand why the owner said what he said.
“The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” (Luke 16:8, ESV)
You see this owner could have gone to the village and said that the reductions were not authorized, that he had fired this manager before he made them, and they had to pay their amounts in full, but he would then become a pariah in the community. Where now he was the most loved man in that entire area he would become more despised than even the Romans. Furthermore these people would never do business with him again. The owner did the only thing he could do – he keeps his mouth shut and accepts all the slaps on the back though they were very expensive slaps.
The owner did not commend the steward for what he had done, but for how he had done it. He said in effect, “You are a shrewd dude. You are a slick steward.” He had to hand it to the guy. He had used what the owner had given him today to make sure he would be taken care of tomorrow.
Let’s think very carefully about what this man had done. He had made a future for himself with somebody else’s money. Talk about shrewd! He had leveraged what he had today that he didn’t even own to secure the best possible future he was going to have tomorrow. You have to admit it is one wise guy that uses what he has today, to make sure he is ready for what is coming tomorrow and especially when he uses somebody else’s money to do it.
Are you getting the picture? Everything you have right now belongs to God. It is loaned- not owned. He owns it all. You manage it all. At the end of the day or at the end of your life it is all going to go back to the owner.
You have a chance right now to use everything that God has given you today on this earth to make sure that it works for you tomorrow in eternity. It amazes me how so many people have pension plans and retirement plans, but they don’t have giving plans and that is the most important plan of all. To make sure we don’t miss the point of the parable, Jesus gives it to us in verse nine. I want to give it to you in a little more modern translation so you will get it.
“Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.” (Luke 16:9, NLT)
In other words, Jesus said you can use what you have on earth today in such a way that you will receive an eternal reward tomorrow.
Let me give you an illustration. My son, Joshua is a shrewd dude. Several weeks ago, he, James, my brother Richard and I, went over to Athens to see the Dawgs beat South Carolina. On the way to the stadium, he wanted to get a smoothie from Smoothie King and we all decided to get one too, and I offered to pay for all four. He pulls out his phone, pulls up an app called “My Smoothie” and gives it to the lady at the register. I said, “What’s that?” He said, “That is an app that I use to get points every time I buy a smoothie.” I said, “What does it do?” He said, “It builds up points and every time I build up enough points I get a free smoothie.” I said, “You get a free smoothie? But I am the one buying the smoothies.” He just smiled and said, “Yes, but I am the one getting the points.” I said, “Let me get this straight. You are going to wind up getting a free smoothie, because of what I paid for.” He said, “That’s right.” I said, “Well not after today, because guess what app I am putting on my phone?”
Here is the point. He used my money that day so he could be rewarded tomorrow. You cannot take what you have with you into eternity, but you can let it meet you there with an eternal reward. You see, the way you invest your money in the world to come is by putting it in what is going to be there. The only thing that is going to be there are the souls of humanity. Here is an analogy. When you give to God’s work you are in effect investing in an eternal mutual fund. When you give to a church like ours, you are investing in a Children’s Ministry where kids will come to know Jesus. You are investing in a Student Ministry where they are given biblical principles to help them to become productive adults for God’s Kingdom. You are investing in people to go all around the world building churches, visiting orphanages, and feeding the poor. You are investing in a media ministry that is broadcasting the Gospel in all 50 states and 144 countries around the world.
Ask yourself, “How many people will come up to me, in eternity, who I never met, never knew, never spoke to, but are going to thank me, because of the investment I made in their lives?” No, you didn’t see any of those people in the Congo, in Ecuador, in Nicaragua, in Argentina, in Norway, in the Far East who are being and will be ministered to, hearing the Gospel, many for the first time, because you are using what God has given you today, to get ready for a world that is coming tomorrow.
You are going to have to give an account for your accounts, so you had better account for your accounts wisely remembering that if you use what God has given you correctly it can do two things for you - have an eternal impact and give an eternal reward. That is what leads Jesus to make these two final climatic statements.
“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?” (Luke 16:10-11, ESV)
Do you notice that Jesus calls money, “a very little thing”? What we think is a big thing is a little thing to God. I don’t care if you have millions of dollars it is just a little thing. Do you know why? 1) You don’t own it; 2) You can’t keep it. God is watching you right now. He is examining the books right now. He is seeing if how you manage your earthly stuff proves He can trust you with His eternal stuff.
I have met people in deep financial trouble, because they have borrowed too much. I have met people in deep financial trouble, because they have spent too much. I have never met anyone in financial trouble, because they gave God too much. I have never met anybody that had to declare bankruptcy, because they gave too much money to God.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do I understand all that I have has been loaned and is not owned?
- Do I have more passion about what I can get or what I can give?
- Will there be people who will welcome me in heaven, because of how I used what God gave me on earth?
- Does the way I have handled my earthly riches prove that God can entrust me with eternal riches?
- Which really gives a more accurate picture of my spiritual life – my Bible or my bank account?
Willard Cantelon, in his book, The Day The Dollar Dies, tells the story of a German mother who wanted to help build a Bible school outside the city of Frankfurt which had been destroyed after the war. All during the war she had held her money with pride and tenderness hoarding it, guarding it, stashing it away because one day she would invest it in a worthy cause.
The very day that she was going to take her money and begin to use it to build that school was the day that the German mark had been cancelled by the government. In fact, that Sunday, in June of 1948, a staggering number of Germans committed suicide. Millions had lost their savings. Like this woman, they had failed to exchange their money for something that would survive the economic collapse.
One day, everything you have or think you have will be gone. It will either be lost somehow, before you die, or certainly gone after you die. One day you are going to lose it, so use it today to get ready for tomorrow.
That is exactly what Jesus did when He died on the cross and was raised from the dead. He invested the life that He lived those 33 years on earth, so we could get ready for the tomorrow of eternity. Take everything you have, everything you are, and give it to God today so you will certainly be ready for tomorrow because everything counts.