New York UBF – NY University Bible Fellowship (NYUBF)

Luke Lesson 52 (2010)

USE YOUR WORLDLY WEALTH TO GAIN FRIENDS

Luke 16:1-13
Key Verse: 16:9

“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

Worldly success is mainly measured by the amount of money we make. When you have lots of money, you can buy almost anything you want and live a pretty decent and comfortable life. Most people in the world want to make lots of money and become rich. Even though deep down in our hearts most of us know that money cannot make us truly happy, we can’t deny the notion that more money means more freedom, power and leisure. We feel more secure when we have enough money in our bank account. However, the pursuit of material wealth can cause serious consequences in our lives. Someone wrote in an article of the Wall Street Journal, “Money is a universal passport to everywhere except heaven.”

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager in today’s passage clearly teaches us that money and the other material resources we possess are not ours. Rather they have been placed under our care in order to meet the needs of those around us. Some of us might think that living a spiritual life has little to do with money or other material wealth. But that’s not true at all. According to today’s passage, the way we use our money and other material resources is a litmus test of spiritual stewardship which will determine our eternal future. Jesus said, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

Most peoples’ lives in our country, except a few rich people, are consumed mainly by their strenuous struggle to pay off their debts, like college tuition loans, house mortgages, car payments, health insurance, life insurance, credit card debts, and retirement plans. Most of us are paying off our house mortgages our whole adult life. In today’s passage, Jesus teaches his disciples the best way to invest their money and material wealth for their eternal future. It’s not like a 401K or any other retirement plan we know of. Let’s think about the best investment strategy Jesus taught us.

Look at verses 1 and 2. “Jesus told his disciples: ‘There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.’ So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.” The manager in the parable was in deep trouble because his master was determined to fire him after finding out about his mismanagement. Some managers of the household in the ancient world often took care of their master’s entire estate. The owner would entrust everything to the care of the manager who would work wisely and faithfully to make his master rich and prosperous.

Joseph in the book of Genesis was the prime example of what the household manager should be like. When he was young, he was sold as a slave in Egypt by his step brothers. His master Potiphar discovered that he was a capable and trustworthy person and put him in charge of everything in his household. In the course of time, Joseph was misunderstood and wrongly accused of a crime. He was put in prison unjustly. However, he didn’t lose his sense of a stewardship. The warden recognized Joseph’s quality and made him responsible for everything that was done there. He trusted Joseph and paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care. When Joseph became a prime minister of Egypt, he made the king very rich and saved many lives, including his family members, during the sever famine that lasted for more than seven years. The manager in the parable, however, was not a trustworthy manager. He was irresponsible and unfaithful. His master demanded him to give an account of his management, and gave him the final notice that he was fired from his job. (2)

What did this dishonest and unfaithful manager do? Look at verses 3-7. The manager said to himself, “What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. He realized that since he was not strong enough for manual labor and was too proud to beg on the street, he had to use his brain. After all, if he was fired because of his dishonesty, who would give him a job? He needed to think quickly. Then a light bulb came on! Snapping his fingers, he said, “I know what I will do so that, when I lost my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.” (4) His future plan required immediate action.

What did he do? Look at verses 5-7. He visited those who owed debts to his master one by one, and reduced their debts drastically without his master’s permission. He went to the first one and asked, “How much do you owe my master?” “Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,” he replied. Then the manager told him, “No problem. Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.” The manager went to the second and asked, “How much do you owe?” “A thousand bushels of wheat,” he replied. He told him, “Take your bill and make it eight hundred.” In those days, the Jews were forbidden to lend money for interest. However, they somehow got around this by lending out commodities instead of cash, like olive oil, corn, or wheat, and charging interest. Since you could dilute the oil, the interest on olive oil was 100 percent. On wheat, interest was about 20 percent. So the discounted amount of their debt might have been just interest. We still have some difficulty understanding how big the debts are, since they are not stated in dollar value. Eight hundred gallons of olive oil were worth three years’ wages. Somebody calculated that eight hundred gallons of olive oil was worth 75,000 dollars. So this guy saved nearly 30 or 40 thousand dollars. You can imagine how happy he was, as were the other people whose debts were drastically reduced. They became good friends. Later, when the manager lost his job, they would welcome him into their house. His plan really worked out well. On the other hand, the master lost the chance to collect the full amount. He must have been even more furious about this shrewd guy. Yet, he could not press charges against him apparently because he knew that charging interest in Israel was an illegal practice.

Now, the point Jesus made in verses 8 and 9 is not surprising. The master in the parable actually commended his dishonest manager, not for his dishonesty but for his prudence and shrewdness in spending his wealth to secure his future. Then Jesus said in verses 8b-9, “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” The people of this world are like this dishonest manager. Look how shrewd he was in dealing with his own kind! Look how much effort he put into securing his future security, when his job was at risk. Jesus’ point is not really about how we can make friends who can give us a place to stay or something to eat. The people of light, God’s children, must be shrewd in the same way, but for what is right: using their worldly wealth in every opportunity and even during adversity to prepare for the heavenly future.

Look at verse 9 again. “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” There are similarities and differences between verse 9 and the manager’s experience. The similarity is that we should use our wealth to gain friends who will give us a place to stay once it is gone. The difference is that we should make different kind of friends, who will welcome us into a different kind of dwelling. The manager made friends who could give him a place to stay for a while. But we should make the kinds of friends who will welcome us into eternal dwellings.

What are eternal dwellings? These dwellings are in heaven. Jesus said in John 14:2, which reads, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” These eternal dwellings are wonderful – they are described in Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem, a city with streets of gold, gates of pearl and foundations of precious jewels. There are no mortgage payments in heaven. God our Father will wipe all our tears and make his dwelling with us.

When Jesus said that the people of this world are shrewder in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light, he was rebuking us. If the people of this world are more concerned with planning for such short lives in this world, shouldn’t we who have an eternal hope have more concern and investment for the future? It’s extremely expensive to buy a house anyplace in New York, not to mention in Manhattan. Those who own houses have huge mortgage payments. Then what about the mortgage for an eternal dwelling? It should be sky high, outside of our price range. But Jesus tells us that it is not. We can use our worldly wealth to make friends who will welcome us into eternal dwellings.

Then who are the people whom we should make friends with by using our worldly wealth? Actually, it’s Jesus himself. Jesus said in the parable of the sheep and goats, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in… I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Mt 25:35-40) We can use our worldly wealth to make Jesus our friend. Jesus does not need our money. But we can actually serve him by serving people who are in need. We are so stressed living in this city that it’s easy to ignore the ones who are suffering, not even realizing it. We also remember the similar lesson from Jesus in Luke 14, where he taught, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Lk 14:12-14)

Some of us may think, “I don’t have money” or “I don’t have enough money to use to make friends.” Worldly wealth is not limited only to money. Everyone has his or her wealth that can be shared with others, such as time, talents, position, knowledge, human experiences, kind words, smiling face, warm heart, listening ears, understanding mind, counseling skills, cooking skills, compassion, etc. There are so many resources that we are not even aware of. There are also so many people who are in need.

Read verses 10-12. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” We will be held accountable for how we use our worldly wealth. In the last day, the Lord will ask each of us to give an account of our management. Those who have been honest and trustworthy with their money and other material resources by using them to gain friends will be greatly rewarded in heaven.

The most fundamental assumption in handling our money and other resources is that we are not the owner but the steward of them. This is very hard to accept it because we think that what we have earned is ours and that we can use it as we want. It’s hard to give away. But in Luke’s gospel, Jesus repeatedly makes the point that what we have is not ours but entrusted to us, and God watches how we use it. In Luke 12, Jesus told the Parable of the Rich Fool, “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ The he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my bars and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
How many of you think of yourself as rich? How many of you think of yourself as poor? Nearly 8 million Americans have lost their jobs due to recent economic downturns. So if you have a job, you should consider yourself very lucky. In fact, most of us who live in the US are rich compared to the majority of the world’s population. We have so much. The issue is not how much we have but how we use our resources not only for ourselves but for others. If we waste what God has entrusted to our care on earth, God will not be happy with us.
Jesus said in verse 13, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” The fundamental issue here is “Do I serve God or our resources?” For most of us, this is the most fundamental question in life. Someone may think, “Well, I can handle myself. I can serve both God and money.” But Jesus said that we can’t. We will have to make a choice between God and money. Money is meant to be a source of blessing. It is to be used to bless us, our neighbors and the world. But money can be a source of grief when we don’t practice proper stewardship. As a matter of fact, the pursuit of wealth can cause serious consequences in a person’s life. How? First of all, we will love God less and less until we ignore him, undervalue family and friends, walk over people, even use them and engage in a host of unethical and other destructive actions. That’s why Saint Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
These days, due to the unstable economy, people are reluctant to invest their money in stocks, bonds and properties. I heard that a lot of people are buying gold instead, thinking that gold is a safe store of value. But we know that nothing lasts forever, even gold. And when we die, we cannot carry anything with us. The most secure investment strategy is using our wealth for God. It does not mean to donate all your money to your church. The fact is that we have a lot of resources that can be very useful. By using and utilizing our money and other resources in serving people, we can make a difference in many peoples’ lives. This is the best investment strategy which will guarantee us a great future. The question is how we are utilizing and using them for good purpose. As long as we live in the world, we cannot completely separate ourselves from dealing with our money and material wealth. In fact, how we use our money and the other resources is the litmus test of our spiritual stewardship and will determine our future. May God help us to be wise investors and good managers of God.