Gospels (39) - Luke 16:1-13

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Gospels

Rusty's Notes

Luke 16
THE PARABLE OF THE DISHONEST MANAGER
1 Now he said to the disciples: “There was a rich man who received an accusation that his manager was squandering his possessions.
 - Accusations and allegations are pretty much guilty as spoken in today’s society.
2 So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’
 - Give me a reason for my decision to already fire you.

• Turn in your books/ledgers and let me see what you have done… or not done.
• Jesus & Luke expected their audiences to assume the charges were correct.
• The Pharisees have been managers of the Law and have manipulated it so extremely that it is not even possible to live up to. They added oral laws.

3 “Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg.

• Lack of strength and abundance of pride.

4 I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

• Jesus is communicating the steward’s thoughts.

5 “So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first one.
6 “‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said.
“‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

• Were these his profits?
• Was he aging the books?
• Was he just ripping off the rich man for his own benefit?

7 “Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe?’
“‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said.
“‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘and write eighty.’
8 “The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly.
 - As soon as Jesus refers to him as “unrighteous”, we know that he is referring to a non-believer of Jesus (unredeemed).
 - The behavior of the unrighteous is always described as wicked/evil.
 - He is considered shrewd because he was able to prepare himself for what lies ahead.
For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.
 - The unrighteous are wiser in dealing with the unrighteous than the righteous people are in dealing with other righteous people.
9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.

• Use the earthly currency (neutral, but the love of money makes it evil) to bring favor to those who are righteous or even to gather the righteous.
• It will still be based upon taking what God has given you and be a good steward by knowing the Spirit, trusting the Spirit and obeying the Spirit.

10 Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.

• Money is neutral… what you do with it is either good or evil.

11 So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine?

• If you prove yourself to be unwise in the financial world, or with your possessions or with your family and friends or even with your time, who is going to listen to you about spiritual matters?
• I’m transparent with my things because it develops trust with others… even when I fail.

12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” [1]
This last line was in reference to the Pharisees who have tried to be the leaders and teachers of faith for the Jewish people and have taught the amount of money owned will determine God’s favor and the benefit of your eternal life.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Lk 16:1-13). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.