The Parable about Materialism - Riverside Indonesian Fellowship

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Bible Study 2021
The Parable about Materialism
There are about 40 parables that our Lord gave. As we know, they were designed to hide the truth from unbelievers, but to reveal it to believers. We find that this particular parable is designed to help believers, as they all are. At the end of the day, they are only going to help believers because only believers really understand them. It is a parable that has to do with money.

Our Lord understands that life in the world is dependent upon a form of exchange, and we live and breathe and move with those exchanges. It’s a really shocking story because the characters in this story are to one degree or another bad. The rest are complicit with his evil. Even the guy who is supposed to be the hero in this story is really flawed because he commends what this bad man did.

This is for us as it was for His disciples. And the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things, and they were scoffing at them. So this is scorn. This is what we would expect from the people who didn’t understand this parable and who, in many ways, were defined by this parable because they were lovers of money. But again this is a parable for the disciples.

Luke 16:1-13, “Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 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.’ 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg.”

“4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ 7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?”

“A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 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.”

10 “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. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” A really strange thing in one sense to tell a story where everybody is sort of relatively corrupted, but that is exactly the point that our Lord is making. Jesus taught from sort of normal routine aspects of life.

It’s a simple story, but what bothers some people is Jesus commends the bad guy. Listen to His closing: “And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly.” Then in verse 9 Jesus says, “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness.” Now this is placed here right after the story of the prodigal son because this is a prodigal manager.

Prodigal means “wasteful.” That son wasted everything and didn’t provide for his future. Here is a man who wasted the assets that he had control of, but did provide for his future. The ending is a surprise ending. It becomes the point of the story. We’ll get to that in a minute, but let’s go back and kind of track a little bit with the story so you understand how they would have heard it when our Lord gave it.

“There was certain rich man.” We know that because people owe him massive amounts of money. They are in debt to him on a very large scale, and there are many debtors. What he has done is he has hired a manager, and put him in charge of all of the assets of this entire operation. He managed the land. He managed the crops. He managed the assets. And he managed the debts.

Well, this manager has been wasting his owner’s possessions. At the end of verse 1, “It was reported to the owner that the manager was squandering his possessions.” He was wasteful, like the prodigal. This is not necessarily embezzlement. This is not necessarily some kind of shrewd scheme to embezzle. This is just an irresponsible, incompetent person at this point in the story.

In verse 2, the owner called him and said to him, “What is this I hear about you? It was a report that involved a serious and legitimate slander against the man. “Give an accounting of your management for you can no longer be manager.” In other words, “You’re fired!” But he says essentially, “Go back and get an accounting of what you’ve done. I want you to account for what you’ve done.”

The manager is losing his home because they lived in those ancient times on the estate where they served. He’s losing his income, and he’s losing his reputation because now everybody is going to know that he was incompetent. So in verse 3, he says to himself, “What shall I do?” Then he says, “I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg.” He doesn’t want any manual labor, let alone be a beggar.

Then he has found a solution, as Jesus invents the story. Verse 4, “I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.” He has to think about the future. I need to be welcome by some people into their homes. So I have a plan. I’m going to contact all the people who owe my master debts, and I’m going to discount their debts.

Now, if he only did this for one guy, there wouldn’t be any peer pressure to reciprocate. But if he does it for everybody in an honor society where everybody is concerned about his honor, they’re all going to put peer pressure on everybody else. He’s not only going to have one home to go to, he’s going to have a whole lot of homes to go to because they want to maintain their honor.

So verse 5-6, “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ Wow, 50 percent discount. This would be worth three year’s wages in money, and this would be the product of at least 150 olive trees.

The deal is struck. No questions are asked about whether this is the wish of the owner. Verse 7, “How much do you owe?” And he said, “A hundred measures of wheat.” And he said to him, “Take your bill and write eighty.” That would be some estimate about 1,000 bushels of wheat, taking 100 acres to produce and maybe eight to ten years of labor. He discounts it 20 percent.

This has nothing to do with a depressed economy. This has nothing to do with the limits of food. This has nothing to do with disasters happening in the debtor’s lives where they’re unable to pay. This is purely a shrewd way to embezzle his master in such a way that secures the obligation of all these people to this manager. So that he can go back to them and say, “You need to give me a job and a place.”

Everybody in this story is twisted. But this is exactly how it works in the world. He literally secures his future in this way. Verse 8, “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are shrewder in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” Here’s the shock. “His master praised the unrighteous manager.”

His owner praised him because he acted shrewdly. This is what has troubled some people. But why is Jesus commending this? The manager took advantage of an opportunity. By reducing the debts, he indebted everybody to him. They are all concerned about reciprocation for somebody who does good to them because it’s part of their social requirement and the culture.

Sinful people act to secure their own future benefit in very clever and ingenious ways. They use the resources they have with shrewdness, whether honest or dishonest to secure the best future they can secure. It’s rarely a question of whether it’s honest or dishonest. It’s mostly a question of, can I get away with it? Every imaginable and unimaginable kind of device is used to guarantee future wealth.

This is how the world operates. There are people at the top of the legitimate banks and the legitimate enterprises of the world who are corrupt and using every device that they can use to get what they want to get. There are crooks who create their Ponzi schemes and use every device. There are people when they’re told something is going to be lucrative, they can’t sign fast enough.

They get sucked into the schemes because everybody in this world is trying to take what they’ve got and multiply it to secure their future. And Jesus says, “They’re more shrewd than the sons of light.” Sons of light are believers. Verse 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.

An interpretation that the Pharisees completely missed. “Make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.” That’s what the perverted, wicked sons of this age have always done to save themselves. “You,” He says, “You need to be at least as shrewd as they are.” Make real friends for yourselves by means of unrighteousness wealth.”

Use your money, your possessions, your wealth and influence friends with it for the Kingdom who will receive you into the eternal dwellings. Take friends out to dinner, and introduce them to the gospel. And they will be standing at the pearly gate welcoming you when you arrive. The Lord says, “You can take that wealth that isn’t going with you and you can make friends that will welcome you into heaven.”

How? You invest in kingdom enterprises that bring about the salvation of sinners. You use your money to purchase friends for eternity. This is what our Lord was talking about in Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

How can I put my treasure in heaven? Answer: invest in what proclaims the gospel and brings people to salvation. Invest in the kingdom enterprises. That’s what you have to do with your money, with your wealth so that you’ll have a welcome when you get there. The longer I live, the less meaning anything has that is to be left here. The more meaning everything has that purchases friends for eternity.

You invest your money in those who preach the gospel, those who teach people to preach the gospel. You invest in missionaries and those who send missionaries. You invest in every gospel enterprise that multiplies teachers and preachers and evangelists and the spread of the Word and the spread of the truth around the world and by doing that you are purchasing friends for eternity.

Life is short and don’t waste it. There isn’t much you can send up. Whatever your little treasures are, they’re staying here and somebody else is going to figure out what to do with them. But there is one thing you can send up. It is your wealth if it’s invested in the people who proclaim the gospel and in the preparation and training of those people who are willing to do that anywhere.

What we could never do individually, we can do collectively. You say, “Well, I don’t give much, but I don’t have much. If I had more, I’d give more.” No you wouldn’t. You say, “How do you know that? You don’t know me.” Well, Jesus does. Verse 10, “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.”

It’s not about how much you have. It’s about what your priorities are. It’s about whether heaven is where your heart is. It’s self-evident. It is obvious that faithful people are faithful people whether they have little or much; and unfaithful people are unfaithful whether they have little or much. If you are committed to making friends for eternity, you will give what you have generously.

“Well, I’ve been hoping to win the lottery.” Look, if you won the lottery, it wouldn’t change your heart. Only God can change your heart. The amount you possess is not the issue. Your character is the issue. Your commitment is the issue. Your love for heaven is the issue. You are either unselfish, humble, generous, non-materialistic, committed to the kingdom with all your heart or you’re not.

Jesus says in verse 11, “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, which is money, who will trust you with true riches?” If you as a believer, have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches of heaven to you? Literally, if you have not been faithful in worldly wealth, is God going to give you things that are spiritual and eternal?

Verse 12, “And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” The use of unrighteous wealth in verse 11 corresponds to the use of that which is another’s. The wealth you have isn’t yours. Like that steward, he was dealing with somebody else’s resources. I earned it. I worked hard for it. Well, that may be true. You worked hard for it, but it’s not yours.

Everything belongs to God. We are in stewardship of everything that we have. Remember David’s blessing in 1 Chronicles 29:11, 14, Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.” 14 “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only in return for what comes from your hand.”

The Psalmist says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” It’s all His. You don’t have anything that really is yours. As a believer, it’s all a test of your devotion. Everything we have is a stewardship. Remember the parable in Matthew 25 where the master doles out the talents that belong to him, and all the servant can do is manage or fail to manage the privilege he’s been given?

If you fail the test of stewardship, you lose significance in the kingdom, and you lose eternal blessing and eternal reward. You waste God’s money on things that are going to perish, accumulate things for yourself, and you’re just inversely cutting into your spiritual blessings and eternal reward. You might come to the conclusion that you could do without a whole lot if you could have an eternal reward.

Jesus is not done. Verse 13, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” You can have God or you can have earthly wealth. God wants single-minded focus, loyalty, fidelity, and faithfulness to Him. I am saying you cannot be a slave to God and a slave to money.

God is not against being rich. Abraham, David and Job were all richly blessed by God. So the possession of wealth is a means God has employed for you to secure eternal reward and heavenly friends. Your capacity to worship, praise, and enjoy God and eternal glory is bound up in what you do with that unrighteous wealth. What are you doing to secure your eternal future? Let’s pray.
© 2017 Ferdy Gunawan
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