Today in God's Word—August 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
August 9, Luke 16
It’s a story right out of today’s papers, but Jesus told it 2,000 years ago. Graft and corruption are nothing new. Wasteful mismanagement of entrusted funds has been going on a long time. When the boss found out about his manager’s dishonesty, he fired the guy and ordered a review of the accounts. The clever fellow in this story created his parachute by further cheating his master, discounting accounts receivable, so his partners in the deception would “owe” him after he was fired. That’s the one detail from the story Jesus chose to apply to his disciples— using money in a way to make friends. But Jesus suggests using material things to spiritual advantage, using wealth (which is temporary) to help bring people into the kingdom of God, so that when you leave this material world there will be friends waiting to welcome you in eternity
Did Jesus commend the shrewd dishonest manager? The servant’s master in the story did, but I don’t think Jesus told the story to commend shrewdness, but rather to contrast the thinking and conduct of the dishonest manager with what he was commending— faithfulness.
Jesus’ words about faithfulness are sobering. We’re fooling ourselves if we think we’d handle more differently than we handle less. The material things we’re given to manage in this world are not true riches compared to what the Lord says is waiting for us in eternity. The things we hold in this world do not even belong to us. Money is a heart check to find out if we really love God most of all.
People of God’s kingdom should not be surprised when people of the world do not understand and even ridicule our perspectives on material wealth. The Pharisees, who judged by externals such as riches, ridiculed Jesus’ financial advice. When Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the first hearers would have been shocked at the idea that a son of Abraham and a wealthy one at that would not be in the kingdom of God. (We could easily
misapply the story and make the opposite misjudgment, thinking it was the beggar’s poverty that brought him reward, and that all the wealthy will share this rich man’s fate.) Jesus told the story to show the Pharisees their tendency to judge by externals and not the heart would lead them to wrong judgments.
Are you faithful in managing what God has put into your hands? Many of us ask to be entrusted with more. Are you showing by your faithfulness that you’re ready for more? If you’ve made a career and maybe a life out of being shrewd, wouldn’t you rather be known for your faithfulness? Are you using your material wealth to do spiritual good? Do you judge by externals like the Pharisees? It’s smart to remember that God looks at the heart, and his values are not the values of the world around us.
From The Abiding Companion: A Friendly Guide for Your Journey Through the New Testament, Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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