Themes of the Bible: Money (Luke 16)

 

Themes of the Bible: Money (Luke 16)

I firmly believed that this week I was taking you to hell with this message. Some of you probably think that that's what I do on a weekly basis, but I really believed that's where we were going to be when I originally planned this sermon series of looking at the entirety of Scripture, and selecting the big messages that God is sending to humanity. Clearly, a warning about eternal punishment and what happens to souls that are not reconciled by Christ, that's clearly one of the messages. And so that was going to be something that I knew I wanted to bring out. And I planned to use this chapter of Luke to do it. Because in this chapter, you see the account of the rich man and Lazarus, and so that's what I was going to use to communicate this theme of Scripture. It's an apparent parable that Jesus teaches, rather than an actual event. Its about a rich guy who goes to hell, and then Lazarus, the beggar who goes to heaven.  And I still think that this passage reveals things to us about hell. In no way have I changed my belief that I think Jesus's teaching here can tell us things about the reality of hell, but I've always felt that that's what that passage was about. Because to be honest, I've divorced it from its context. I've read that account on its own, and this past week preparing for this message, I read in entire passage, just as I asked you all to last week. 

And so, if you read this chapter, you may already know that what is Jesus teaching about in Luke chapter 16 is money. That's what it's about. And you're thinking, ‘great, I came to church to hear about money. . .’ But it should come as no surprise that Jesus is teaching about money here. He often talks radically about our relationship to our money. And obviously back then they didn't have dollars, but they had a different medium of exchange, but it was the same principle that people, many people, put their confidence and their security in their wealth. And Jesus goes out of his way to teach radically different than what the culture had to say about money. And that's been preserved for us, because He wants us to think radically different about our money and our wealth. Did you ever realize that a third of Jesus's parables have to do with money? If that’s the case, then Jesus is trying very hard to stress something to us. He understands something about us. There's a reason that this is the case, because money surrounds us and money dominates us. Even those of us that think that we've been freed from any reliance on money, we have to admit that money dominates us more than we think. We love our money more than we think that we love our money, and Jesus knows that. He knows that about us. Money determines your mood more than you will admit that money determines your mood. And money causes more of your fights in your marriage and your home that you care to admit that money causes those fights and disagreements. So, Jesus is wanting to teach us something about our money. He never hesitates to make people feel uncomfortable when they need to feel uncomfortable.

So here is a chapter that includes a series of what I would call ‘shocking stories.’ Certainly this tormented, tormented, rich man sitting in hell just wanting his tongue to be cooled by a drop of water is a pretty alarming story. No question about that. And did you read the first one? The Parable of the Shrewd Manager. Did anybody else read this and say what in the world is happening here? It's a story about money with characters who are all bad. Every single person in that story is, and one is an especially bad dude. And yet it seems like Jesus is saying, ‘Oh, you want to be more like this guy.’ If you read this chapter, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

If I had to sum up this chapter collectively, here's the questions that are being asked to you and to me: how do you relate to your money? What role does money play in your life? Is it a means to an end? You're using your money to achieve an end, hopefully it’s a good end. Or is money the end itself? Are you living your life and collecting money and that is the objective? That's the question that's being asked: do you guard your money closely? Or do you spend it liberally? And I've always said that Jesus will take what we believe in, just turn it on its head.

My older brother and I had two different takes on money. When we were little we had matching little piggy bank safes. They were purple, and I think they came from sending in barcodes to Frito-Lay. Anyway, you had to put the combination in to open it up, and you can put your money inside, because there’s no way the thief could figure out how to smash the little thing, or put it in their pocket and take off. . . Anyway, it kind of became a standing joke at our house that mine was loaded with money. I couldn't cram the dollar bills in there because I never spent it. Travis’s was always empty because the moment he got $1 he had to spend it. And over and over, my parents would say to Travis, ‘you have to be more like your brother.’ I saved my money, and when I would see something that I liked, I didn't buy it because what if I buy it and spend that money and then later there's something I want more. So, I kept hoarding the money. And most of us were taught, and/or teach our children the idea of saving your money, save your money, don't blow it. And yet this account is kind of teaching us something completely different. Although Jesus isn't encouraging us to buy worthless things like bubble gum and stickers, but He is teaching us to be wise with it, but he's saying we should be spending it.

What does your view of money say about your view of security? Do you know how many people believe that everything's going to be okay, as long as they have a couple months worth of salary saved up in the bank. And again, I'm not trying to discourage you from being prudent with your money and wise with your money. But is that where your security is? Do you say to yourself, ‘I'll be okay because my bank account is okay.’ This is one of the lessons that's being taught here. So, let’s get into Luke chapter 16. Okay, now this is a really strange story. This is the parable of the shrewd manager. And when you read it, it seems like Jesus is commending the corrupt guy. He often turns things upside down, and he's going to do it again here. He's going to use evil people to make his point to his disciples.

Alright, so let me start here before we jump into the to the text I'm assuming most of you here are Christians. And you know, as Christians, we are living in an ungodly culture that surrounds us. I don't have to prove that to you. You know that you are a Christian living in an ungodly culture, so how do you relate to that ungodly culture? Each Christian has three choices. Three choices that you and I make on a daily basis about being a believer living in an ungodly culture. Option one, is we can run away from that culture. We can try to get as far away from it as we possibly can, wall ourselves off, live in our monastic enclaves, very sheltered from the world. That's one option. Option two is where you give into the culture, you blend in with the culture, you become more like that culture. You adopt the culture’s ways, while still saying you believe biblical truth. You're going to live like the world, that's option two. And then option three, which hopefully we all know is the better one, is that we see it as our responsibility to be in that culture and bring God's kingdom to that culture, contrasting it with what the world does. You remember we talked about prayer in Matthew chapter 6. And part of the Lord's prayer is “your kingdom come.” As in, your kingdom come into my life so that then it flows through my life out into the culture around me, bringing God's kingdom to the culture. Those are the three choices. Now, we can take that same principle and apply it to money. That's what this chapter is going to be about. The overall point of this passage is right there. We are to use our money wisely. And how do we use our money wisely? We don't run away from money. Some people will preach a very weird theology of poverty, that the moment we have money, we just get rid of it because money itself is evil. And you'll see a lot of these teachings and they're not consistent with scripture. We're not to run away from this as though money itself is evil, or also not to give into it. Now an equally bad theology is the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel that we can measure how much God loves us by how much money and stuff we have. So, send me a check so that everybody will know how much I am loved by God. Okay, that's clearly not what we should be doing. We're not to run away from the culture’s money. We're not to give into the culture’s money, but what are we to do with our money?

Jesus uses this story of the shrewd manager and his under the table dealings to illustrate this perfectly. So how does this start? Verse one of chapter 16. [Read Luke 16:1]. All right, let's stop right here for just a second. Notice who was being taught. Jesus knows other people are listening, but he is specifically addressing believers. He is talking to his followers, his disciples, which means those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus, this is a lesson directly to us. Okay, he is talking to you. There was a rich man whose manager was accused, so what's going on? Somebody's got a lot of money, so much money they don't know what to do with it, so they hire somebody to come along and manage their money. So, the manger comes in and he's going to run the affairs. That's what's going on here. And the manager was not a good guy. He is wasting the rich man’s money. You remember last week we talked about the prodigal son, the prodigal son that squandered his dad's money. Well, that’s the exact same word that Jesus uses for the manger. So, the rich man fires the manager. Who wouldn't? But then the rich man does something really, really dumb. Look at verse 2. [Read Luke 16:2]. So, what he's saying is, I need you to go back and look at my books and figure out all the ways that you have stuck it to me and I need to know where I got to make all this stuff up because you've messed it up so bad. He fires him, but he doesn't send him packing right away. He sends him back to give an account of what he has done. This seems like a dumb move, right? ‘You're fired. But here's your two weeks. In two weeks, you're out of here buddy. But in the meantime, I need you to go back and make a list of everything that you have done to really mess up the books.’ If you fire somebody, you better send them out that day. You don't send them back to kind of continue managing your household for a couple of weeks as you look for a new manager. Because they are going to go in with a vengeance. It’s like sending the wolf back into the henhouse. That's what the rich man does here. ‘I want you to go back to the hen house and count up how many hens you've eaten.’ So, what's the wolf going to do? He is going to devour a few more hens while he's there. And that's exactly what he does in this account. So, he devises a scheme. He's been fired. He knows he's toast. So, he's coming up with a plan. Remember, he's losing his job, but you’ve got to understand the culture. If he loses his job, he is living in this rich man’s home. That's how these things work. So, he is not only losing his job, but he's losing his home. And if this guy loses his job and loses his home and is out on the streets, everybody is going to know that he's really messed up and he's going to lose his reputation as well. Well, he didn't want any of that to happen.

Let’s continue to verse three. [Read Luke 16:3-7]. So, he starts wheeling and dealing. All these people that owe this money. This dude owed a lot of money to them, and he just cuts it in half. And what's this guy going to do? Soon he's going to ask them when he's out of a place to live, ‘Will you take me in’ and those people are going to owe him a huge debt of gratitude, because he cut their bill in half.

How big of a cut did this this equate to? The first guy gets a 50% discount on oil. Now if you read this, 900 gallons of oil, that is three years wages in their money. So, let's say that you make an average of $50,000 a year. I'm picking 50,000 because that's easy math for me. So, $50,000 a year, that means you owe somebody $150,000. Now you know you can't just take your three years paychecks and give it all to this guy because you got to live off that money. How long is it going to take a person who makes $50,000 a year to pay off a $150,000 loan knowing that there's going to be interest on that? So, this is a huge discount that this guy is hitting. Notice how the manager says, ‘Sit down quickly and sign it.’ You always know a scam artist when they pull this line. ‘If you don't sign the paper right now you'll never see this deal again.’ That's when you know, I shouldn't be signing this deal. But these guys they are desperate for a discount. So, they do it. The next guy gets a great deal too, 20% off wheat.

So, at this point, Jesus telling the story, you are waiting for the shoe to drop, right? You're ready for Jesus to hammer this guy. Look what he's doing. He's a thief, he's stealing this rich guy’s money. You're waiting for the shoe to drop, and then we get verse 8. What does Jesus say in verse 8? [Read Luke 16:8]. That doesn't make any sense. This guy just cost you a ton of money, and you are commending him? Why would he do that? It makes no sense. The master praises him. Why isn't the master furious with him? And then Jesus says, “for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.” He is saying to His disciples, ‘You ought to be more like this guy.’ Is Jesus just going off the deep end? What in the world is he teaching? First of all, why is the master commending this guy for really sticking it to him? Notice why he's praising him. He's not praising his incompetence. He's not praising his deception. He is praising his shrewdness. He was cunning. He was very savvy with what he did. That's what he's saying right here. ‘I've lost all this money, but I got to hand it to you, that was a pretty shrewd move on your behalf.’ So why is Jesus commending this then? It is a well devised plan. That's the whole point that he's trying to stress. This is a well devised plan. This guy took advantage of an obvious opportunity that he had, and he pulled together a plan that was going to provide for his future.

What Jesus is commending is that this man took advantage of his opportunities to provide for his future. Jesus is teaching his disciples, and therefore us as well that this is how worldly people operate. They're going to use all of their ability and all of their opportunities to plan for their own future because that's all they get, what they have here on Earth. They are cleverly going to come up with ways to take care of themselves. They'll use their resources, they'll use their opportunities very wisely. It may be honest, they may take their money and invest it so they have a lot down the road or it may be dishonest. They may set up a Ponzi scheme and rip a bunch of people off. But worldly people are going to conduct themselves in such a way that they provide for themselves and those they care about. That is a hallmark of worldly people. It's what they do. They are more committed to their ends, and their ends are serving themselves, but they are more committed to those ends and are more shrewd in attaining those ends than you are in attaining godly ends. Follow what he is saying. Worldly people are so committed to what they want to achieve. They'll do anything to achieve it. Why don't I see that same passion from you? Why don't I see that same shrewdness? If you put as much thought into how you're going to manipulate the situation to bring glory to God that these people are doing to bring glory to themselves, it would be great for the kingdom. What does he mean by this? Look at verse nine. [Read Luke 16:9].

The manager used his assets to purchase a worldly future for himself. And you and I should be just as wise. We should be just as shrewd with our assets and our opportunities, especially because you and I are not building a temporary future. We are building an eternal future where worldly wealth is going to be useless and gone. If we really believe that you can’t take it with you, then why are we so obsessed with building up earthly wealth? Why are we so obsessed with having so much of it? If it's fleeting, if it's not going to last, then we should use it for something. That's what he's saying. Don't be me with a little Frito-Lay piggy bank loading it up with dollar bills. Rather, use it and use it for the glory of God.

What better use of worldly wealth is there than that? Can you come up with a better use of worldly wealth than to win people to the kingdom of God that you will share eternity with? That's what Jesus is saying here. Real quick, keep your finger on Luke 16, flip back to chapter 12. I told you that Jesus is always talking about our money. So, I'm going to read you this short little parable that ties in beautifully. Luke 12, starting in verse 16. [Read Luke 12:16-19].

Does that not sound like a lot of us? We spend our whole lives building up a retirement account. We're going to have plenty when we retire. I'm going to have millions of dollars in the bank because of how I've loaded this retirement account up all these years. How does God regard that? Look at verse 20. [Read Luke 12:20-21].  

That parable fits perfectly with what he's teaching right here. It’s foolish to have all of that money and just be hoarding it. You're not doing anything with it, just keeping it for yourself. My wife and I have recently set up retirement accounts, because we aren’t making enough to really save now, and we don’t have much to put in the accounts, but its an attempt o prepare for the future. So, all my ministry career I’m going to build up my retirement account and I'm probably going to die of a stroke at 51. And Christiana is going to get to spend it all on candles or something. . . So, Jesus is teaching that personal accumulation is meaningless, or at least should be a much lower priority, because you don't have any guarantee that you're ever going to see it. That's what the world does. It foolishly builds up its own wealth. Jesus addresses this in the sermon on the mount, where He says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

We’re seeing again here a principle that we’ve been seeing for this entire ‘themes of the Bible’ series, that God cares about our heart where our heart is not what we do outwardly. So, where's your money going? Is it going into a bank account? That's where your heart is? Is it going to build big homes and big facilities and big buildings? And big businesses? That's where your heart is. Where is your money going? Follow that trail, and you'll find your heart.

So how do you store up treasures in heaven? And by the way, if this is stepping on any of your toes, know that I would much rather be preaching about hell right now. This just destroyed me. So how do you do it? How do you store up treasures in heaven? Invest in the preaching and teaching and spreading of the gospel. Invest in things that have eternal rewards.  For my wife and I, we're going to take a look at where our giving is. And I want to make sure that our giving is investing in the proclamation of the gospel. And there's a lot of organizations that do that. You should of course be giving in your local church, that's the biblical model. But this is different than that, or beyond that. Invest in causes that bring the good news to people that need to hear it. Invest in missionaries, the ones that are here locally, and then the ones that are abroad as well. That's what this church is already doing to help my ministry to rural churches and Camp Challenge.

I'm not trying to give you all a guilt trip. This is a warning from Scripture, and I would be a really bad preacher if I read this passage and said, ‘oh, that's going to rub people the wrong way. They're going to think I'm begging for their money.’ Please don’t think that I’m begging for your money, but know that the kingdom of God deserves your money. And I know the argument, because I've made the argument. ‘If I had more, then I would give more.’ But the truth is, no, you wouldn't. And no, I wouldn't. And I'm only saying that because that's exactly what Jesus said. Look at verse 10. He flat out tells us that you're not telling the truth when you say that. Verse 10, [Read Luke 16:10]. So, it's not, ‘if I had more I would give more’ because it's not your money that matters. It's not the size of your account that matters. A faithful person is a faithful person, whether they have a lot or a little and the same thing is true with an unfaithful person. An unfaithful person is unfaithful whether they have a lot or a little. Our bank statement isn't the issue, our character is the issue. Beyond that, our commitment to building the kingdom is the issue. Beyond that our love for heaven is the issue. So, the problem then, is that we love other things more.

Now, let's finish up with verses 11 and 12. Verse 11, [Read Luke 16:11-12]. Alright, so I'm looking at these two verses, and verse 11 makes sense to me. If I'm not faithful with my earthly riches, and I'm not going to be entrusted with eternal blessing. I get that. But verse 12, what in the world is he talking about? Look at verse 12 again, [Read Luke 16:12]. I'm not the manager, nobody has entrusted me with their property. Shockingly, no one has asked me to handle their financial affairs. So, what I have is mine, right? That's what I'm responsible for. It’s my money, I earned it, I work for it. This is my money. So why do I need to pay attention to this verse? Well, here's the problem with that; it is not yours. Scripture says everything exists for and through God, it tells us that the world and its fullness, all of the material blessings belong to God. In other words, it's on loan to you. All that is in the earth is God's. So, when you consider tithing, I don't know if I give 10% of the kingdom. That's a lot for us to part with, but here’s the thing, it isn't you giving God 10% of what is yours. It is God allowing you to keep 90% of what is his. It is all his and he has loaned it to us for the purpose of building His Kingdom, and also I might add potentially as a test of our stewardship and our faithfulness. How are we doing with that test of stewardship and faithfulness? We have a lot to think about, but for now, let’s pray.