Message Information
- Key Scriptures: Luke 16:1-14, NASB
- Series: Luke (2025-2027), no. 58
- Date: Sunday, May 24, 2026 (Morning)
- Venue: Central Baptist Church — Lawton, Oklahoma
- Speaker: Jared Byrns
- Audio File: Open/Download
Listen Online
Watch Online
Text
A Difficult Passage
Well, the song that Madeleine and I sang a few minutes ago is one that her praise team at school put together for a performance, and as they were practicing it, Miss Jeanette, who is their director, had come to me and asked if I would sing with them. She said, I’ve heard this song on the internet in German. She said, and it just gives me goosebumps to, I hope it’s okay to share, gives me goosebumps when I hear praises being sung in multiple languages. And I get that.
I feel the same way because I think that’s a glimpse of what heaven is going to be like. But she said, I would like you to sing this song. I said, okay. She said, I would like you to sing it in German.
And I said, I’ll try, but I don’t think you’ll feel goosebumps. You’ll feel something else. So I tried and tried and tried for probably two months to learn it in German. I kind of hurt myself because I’m not used to being able to make those sounds.
And finally, a week out, I told her, no, we’re going to have to do this in something I understand. I couldn’t nail down the German, number one, because I couldn’t make the sounds very well. But also, I had no idea what I was saying. She could have given me completely made-up words.
There’s no telling what, anyway, not that she would do that. But I looked at, don’t give you ideas, yeah, I can always say no next time. I looked at the German lyrics, and I listened to the German lyrics, and I had no idea what any of this was. I’m assuming it’s a translation of the English, but I don’t know that.
It was just a mess, and I tell you that, I hadn’t planned on taking this direction until about five minutes ago, but I tell you that because that’s kind of how I felt looking at the passage for this Sunday, for today. I looked at this passage in Luke chapter 16 and thought, what in the world is this about? And I’m not the only one. I want to say when you go and read what commentaries say, they argue about what it means, but they argue about everything.
But this is one of the few places where I’ve read where Bible scholars will admit in their own books, we think this is what this means. Ordinarily, they seem so certain about everything, even if the other guy is equally certain. But you look at this passage and you think, I feel like I have more questions than answers after having read it. There are some things that come up as you read this story.
It’s called the parable of the unrighteous steward. And as you read it, you think, why do the people react the way they do? Why does the man who, it looks like somebody’s stealing from somebody else, so why does the one who was stolen from react positively? Why does Jesus seem to commend this?
What is he telling us to do? I had to do some real digging, and there may be details that I can’t answer. I’m glad we’re not having services tonight because some of you would come in with questions I can’t answer. Actually, you frequently come in with questions I can’t answer, but you’d come in with a lot more this time.
But my rule when it comes to biblical interpretation is when we come to a passage that’s difficult, and some passages are more difficult than others, when we come to a passage that’s difficult and there are multiple ways that we could reasonably interpret it, I’m not talking about wild, out there things like the History Channel says, oh, Moses was glowing when he came down from the mountain. He met with aliens. That’s not a legitimate interpretation. But what I’m talking about, when there are multiple legitimate interpretations, we want to look for what’s going to be true regardless.
And so I want to work through this passage with you this morning and try to give you something that’s true regardless of how we understand the story. What is the main point that Jesus was trying to make? This story is in there for a reason and so we shouldn’t overlook it but we also we also recognize that like I said some passages are more difficult than others so we’re going to dive into this the beginning of Luke chapter 16 and I think Jesus’ main point in telling us this story telling the disciples this story and it being recorded for us is for us to make wise decisions while we have the time to do so, and particularly make wise decisions while we have the time to do so when it comes to advancing the kingdom. I think that’s really the point of this story today.
So we’re going to look at Luke 16 verses 1 through 14 this morning, and But here’s what Luke records for us. He says, Now, he was also saying to the disciples, this is Jesus, he’s been confronting and he’s been correcting the Pharisees, and now he turns to his disciples in the hearing of the Pharisees. And he says, there was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. And he called him and said to him, what is this I hear about you?
Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager. The manager said to himself, what shall I do since my master is taking away the management from me? I’m not strong enough to dig. I’m ashamed to beg.
I know what I shall do so that when I am removed from the management, people will welcome me into their homes. And he summoned each of his master’s debtors and he began saying to the first, how much do you owe my master? And he said, a hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, take your bill and sit down quickly and write 50.
And he said to another, and how much do you owe? And he said, a hundred measures of wheat. He said to him, take your bill and write 80. And his master praised, this is why it’s confusing, verse 8.
And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. And then Jesus seems to approve there in verse 8 and going into verse 9 of what happened.
He said, for I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much, and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you’ve not been faithful in the use of that which is in others, who will give you that which is your own?
Submitting Everything to One Master
No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at him.
And there are some details that I’ve already pointed out that we trip over, that make this passage complicated for us. If the guy is stealing, you know, he goes to one of the debtors and said, if you owe a hundred, write fifty on the bill. The assumption we’ve made is he’s defrauding his employer. Well, then why is the employer happy?
Why does the employer commend him for his wisdom? Why does Jesus seem to use this as a story to encourage us to do likewise? Because Jesus will never lead us to sin. I want to say that again.
Jesus will never lead us to sin. If there’s something telling us, oh, it’s okay this time, do that. It’s okay to lie. It’s okay to cheat.
You’ve got your reasons. It’s okay. That is not God. That is not God’s Holy Spirit.
That voice comes from somewhere else. Jesus will never lead us to sin. Jesus will never approve of sin. As a matter of fact, the cross demonstrates how God views sin.
What Jesus went through on the cross paid for our sin, but it also demonstrated what a big deal sin is to God, the kind of punishment that sin deserves. So, Jesus, as someone who has been to the cross and has paid for our sins and has borne that ultimate penalty, He’s not going to take a light view of sin. And so it’s possible that there are some other things happening here. But his main point, we go to what he says after the story, he seems to be making the case that there’s something to do with wisdom that we’re not doing, or that believers, his followers weren’t doing, or weren’t doing enough, or needed to be encouraged to do. And so that’s what we’re going to look at today.
Wisdom in a Crisis
But we see from his story in verses 1 through 7 that this shrewd manager, some of your translations may say steward. He acted wisely in a crisis. This was a crisis moment for this man in this story. He acted wisely in a crisis. That’s the whole reason he tells the story, is to show this man was faced with a problem, and he took some very wise, to use Jesus’ words, some very wise steps in order to deal with this.
Facing Reality
And some of the things that he did that we see in these first seven verses you know he’s given warning and this is I think it’s fair more than fair that the master came to him and said you know I’m going to inspect this because I’ve heard you’ve been mismanaging and you’re not going to be able to be the manager here anymore he gives him a little bit of time to wrap things up he doesn’t just say you’re fired today you’re out the door he gives him some time to wrap these things up and when he does the man seems to recognize the gravity of the situation he’s in he faced the reality of his condition and so many times we come we face a crisis whether it’s a personal crisis or something to do with with ministry and how we serve the lord and we will just deny not that we’re trying to lie but we lie to ourselves it’s not that big a it’s not that big a deal I watched a mini documentary last night on YouTube while I was getting ready for bed about what happens to lottery winners and how most of them within seven or eight years have lost all the hundreds of millions because they start to see that the money’s going faster than they thought it would be and they just they’re in denial oh well I had a hundred million 50 million is still a lot but you can’t spend like you had a a hundred million. They live in denial and they end up losing all of this money. We will do that too. We will deny there’s a problem.
The other day, Charla told me there’s water coming out of the air conditioner again. I said, no, there’s not. She said, I saw it. I said, no, there’s not.
Not until after I ate dinner. I was going to lie to myself and be in denial. That water and that air conditioner can wait. There was water coming out of the air conditioner.
I got it fixed, but but for that moment no there’s not I’m saying some of y’all heard me say that with COVID no I’m done playing COVID it’s not happening anymore back in 2020 2021 I’m not participating I’m no thank you I’m not participating in this you know we can we can talk ourselves into denial about a situation we’re in this man was wise enough to recognize no this is going to happen I’m about to lose my job. There is a serious problem here. And he faced up to it, and he realized he had limited options available to him.
So there’s the wisdom just of acknowledging that there’s a problem and something that needs to be addressed. And sometimes we fail to do this when it comes to the kingdom. Sometimes we fail to acknowledge, I think we have, I think this bubble has been burst, but I know for a lot of years, as believers in this part of the country, we failed to recognize the reality of lostness around us because we’re in the Bible belt. And it took us longer, far longer than it should have to face up to the reality that there are people around us who have, not just are not believers, but have never heard the gospel.
Recognizing the Urgency
They may have heard of Jesus they may have some idea who God is some of them may have been to church with grandma when they were kids although that’s becoming rarer and rarer but there are people in Lawton, Oklahoma who have never heard the gospel and sometimes the better part of wisdom is just facing up to the reality of where we are, and he did that, and he recognized the urgency of the moment. He didn’t sit around and say, well, I’ve got two weeks to write out this notice, and then I’ll figure out. I don’t know if two-week notice was a thing back then, but I’ve got two weeks.
I’ll write out this notice, and then I’ll start figuring out what to do. He recognized there was some urgency. He immediately went to these debtors and said, what can I do? I’ve to land here.
Acting with the Future in View
He understood that he had a limited amount of time to act, and he acted with the future in view. He was looking at what was coming and facing up to it and acting quickly and taking steps. And typically here, this is where I think we get hung up. We think that he cheated his employer, and that’s where it gets so frustrating in verses eight and nine about the reactions from Jesus and employer in the story.
Because again, Jesus is not going to encourage sin. But when we look back on how things worked at this time, when you lent things out, there were things like interest, just like today. Nobody’s lending money for free. Although I look at what I earn on my savings account, it looks like they’re lending money for free, but it’s another story.
They would charge interest and there would be a commission for the steward and so historians have looked at this story and suggested when he says if you own if you owe a hundred things of oil taking right 50 on your bill he’s suggesting that he’s waiving the interest in the commission so that the employer gets back what he was owed, and they weren’t supposed to be charging interest under the Mosaic law anyway, but something like oil would be charged in an 85% commission. How there are people who know this, I don’t know, but I’m glad they do. I’m glad there are historians who have gone back and translated really old pieces of papyrus and know that they would charge 85% interest on oil. But for him to say, no, no, you owe 50, what he was doing was waiving, it sounds like he was waiving what the guy owed him in order to secure his future.
And this is something that the guy would have been only too glad to do, because if we’re talking a hundred containers of oil, I forget what the math was, but we’re talking like an oil tanker, like the kind in the Strait of Hormuz, kind of oil tanker. We’re talking about barrels and barrels of olive oil. We are talking about multiple years of salary for somebody. This is not something that could be easily repaid.
And so if that’s the case, then what he’s doing is saying, you know what? I haven’t been wise in the past. That was the whole charge at the beginning of the passage. You’ve squandered my resources.
You’ve squandered my possessions. He had not dealt wisely with his employer’s possessions, the things that were under his control. But now he’s realizing the writing on the wall and he’s saying, I’ve got to do something differently. And so he’s going and saying, with the time that I have left, how can I make sure that this is a soft landing?
How can I prepare for what’s coming? Some of you have done this in the past. You may think, okay, there’s a possibility of layoffs at work in the next year. I’m going to start paying ahead on my house payment.
Okay, I’m looking at retirement in the next two or three years. I’m going to get that car paid off. Or you start looking for another job before you need it. Several years ago, I recognized that the first school where I taught was probably not going to remain open much longer.
Rather than waiting until the last moment, I began preparing responsibly for another position. I made connections, explored other opportunities, and tried to make sure there would be somewhere to land when that season ended. I wish I could say I’d acted that wisely in other places in the past. But when I thought about what he’s doing, that came to mind.
Trying to make sure, I know this is going south fast. We’ve got to make sure there’s another place to land and that’s what he’s doing he’s preparing for the future and that’s the explanation I can come up with why this manager would be happy if he had lent out a hundred jars of oil a hundred containers of oil and he’s only getting back 50 he’s not going to be happy but from somebody who’s squandering the oil and he’s not supposed to be charging interest anyway. Somebody who’s squandering the oil, he lends out 50 and he gets back 50, that’s a good day.
That’s more than he probably thought he was going to get back from that unjust steward. And I think the reason why he’s called unjust and unrighteous in this passage is not because of how he acts in what we’ve read about, but from how he acted to begin with squandering the man’s resources. So what we see is this story that Jesus put together of somebody who acted wisely in a crisis. Somebody who had not always acted wisely, but did under these circumstances.
Wisdom and Urgency for Eternal Things
And the point that he makes as we get to verse 8, I think this is key to understanding this, the world pursues earthly goals with more wisdom and urgency than we pursue eternal ones. That’s a mouthful, but it’s a very simple idea. The world pursues earthly goals with more wisdom and urgency than we pursue eternal ones. Out in the world, you see how people will go after something full force when they want it.
When they are committed, there is nothing that stands in their way. And people will do that to get the job, to make the sale, to get the car, to buy the house, to get the girl, you name it. Whatever they’re pursuing, people will go after without reservation and without hesitation. People will do that over things that don’t last in eternity.
And he says in verse 8, Jesus says, the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. What he’s saying is that folks in the world are wiser about what they’re trying to accomplish than we are about what we’re trying to accomplish. That’s where I say they pursue earthly goals with more wisdom and urgency than we pursue eternal ones. His master praised this man because he had acted shrewdly.
Jesus points out that, hey, this is key to it. You look at this man, you see how he behaved. Why are we not being so wise when it comes to kingdom things? And he’s saying this to the disciples.
He’s saying this in the hearing of the Pharisees because here were people who had been entrusted all the things of God. They knew the Word of God. They were in the temple. They were entrusted with all the things that one needed in order to live a life that glorified God in that time.
They had all of it, and what had the Pharisees done? They had squandered it. They were not focused at all on the kingdom.
And this is a warning to the disciples not to do the same thing, that we ought to pursue kingdom things with urgency and with wisdom. We ought to do that just because they’re kingdom things and it’s right to do. But sometimes if we get a little lazy, we might need to look around at the world for an example and see how somebody’s running after that car or that job or that bank account or whatever it is and realize that we’re not keeping up when it comes to kingdom things. Godly wisdom is what he’s encouraging us to have here.
Using Earthly Resources for Eternal Purposes
And godly wisdom will use earthly resources for eternal purposes. Because when he gets to the application of this, he talks to the disciples and he’s talking about money. But the reason why he’s talking about money, so if you’re a guest with us and you’re saying, oh great, I’m at church and they’re talking about money. I don’t get up here and talk about money unless the text talks about money.
I think the finance committee wishes I would talk about money more. But we talk about money when the text talks about money. He’s talking about money here because that’s what we see in verse 14, the Pharisees loved. Why aren’t they following Jesus?
Why aren’t they being obedient to Scripture? Why aren’t they honoring God? Because they love money more than they love any of those things. So money is the issue for them.
But this can apply to any resource we have. Because he keeps some of this very open-ended, talking about the things that have been entrusted to you, whatever it is. So we use, godly wisdom means we use earthly resources, not just money, but we use those for eternal purposes. Resources, we hear that and we think money.
It’s so much more than just money. Sometimes writing the check is the easy thing. Our resources include our time. Our resources include our talents.
They include our energy. God has entrusted a certain amount of stuff to us to use and to use for His glory and if we’re using godly wisdom we’re going to put those things to use for His glory and He gives us in verses 9 through 14 some of the application of this which again applies to money because of the Pharisees, but it doesn’t just apply to money. He says in verse 9, I say to you, make friends for yourself by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. He’s talking about this man in his story who said, I’m going to take what I have, which is this ability to negotiate and make deals.
I’m going to take that and make it so that when I am without a job, these other people will receive me into their homes. He’s looking for somebody else to hire him. And Jesus says here, so you go likewise and use unrighteous wealth. He’s not saying like ill-gotten gains, but just talking about the world’s money, the world’s stuff.
Take that and use it so that when the time comes, they’ll welcome you into eternal habitations. He’s teaching the disciples here to be generous he’s telling us that we use what is entrusted to us to show loving generosity for others we’re not talking about bribing people into the kingdom but sometimes through the stuff that is entrusted to us, again, the money, the time, the talent, the energy, by using those things, we can make a positive impression on people for the gospel. Ms. Janie spoke to you last Sunday about the Walk for Life and about the Pregnancy Resource Center.
Every month, we see the reports come out of how many people have trusted Christ as their Savior through that ministry. And a lot of that connection starts with them being open to the gospel because somebody has come alongside them with medical assistance and the assistance they need to take care of a baby. And it’s not that we’re bribing them to come to Christ. That doesn’t work.
But it’s the realization somebody loves me enough to provide these things for me. And then people want to know more about the Jesus who led us to give. And so as he’s teaching us to be wise while we have the opportunity and make preparations for the future, we use what God has entrusted to us to love other people generously so that one day they’ll welcome us into the eternal habitations. There’s a song from way back in the day, back in the 80s.
Probably. Thank you for giving to the Lord. Some of you have heard this. I’m not going to try to sing it this morning.
But the story in that song talks about all the times that this guy had given what he had to the church, to missionaries, to this and that, and talks about getting to heaven and all the people who are there to greet him because his giving enabled them to hear about Jesus. Folks, whatever we have, we use to love other people generously. Because we’re not thinking about what’s in it for me. We’re not thinking about, well, how does this prepare me?
We’re thinking about how could this affect the kingdom? And again, we’re not just talking about money. Sometimes that’s the easy part. Time is harder to give.
Attention is harder to give. A loving and sympathetic ear sometimes is harder to give. But we use what we have to love other people generously. We are supposed to take resources and things that will fade so that others will be in the kingdom for eternity. Then look with me at verses 10 through 12. Here he’s making a point several times about being faithful.
Faithful in What Is Entrusted
And we prove ourselves faithful. Godly wisdom means we prove ourselves faithful in everything that’s entrusted to us. Little things, big things, things that are ours. He says, he who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.
And he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much. He’s saying if you’re faithful in small things, it’s a sign you’ll be faithful in big things. But if you lack godliness in small things, you’ll lack it in big things as well. And therefore, if you’ve not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?
He says, you take the world’s stuff and you’ve not glorified God in the way you’ve handled it. Why is he going to entrust things to you that matter in eternity? We prove ourselves faithful in everything entrusted to us. Do we always do this perfectly?
No. I don’t want you to think I’m standing up here saying, I do this so well. No, we all have room to grow in this. But it’s about finding where are we not being faithful.
And asking Him to show us that. And asking Him to help us be faithful in those little things. Little things add up to big things. And then in verse 13, as He’s still talking about this, He says, no servant can serve two masters, for he’ll either hate the one and love the other, or else he’ll be devoted to one and despise the other.
You can’t serve God and wealth. And that was certainly true of the Pharisees. They couldn’t serve God and their money. They were going to love one or they were going to hate the other.
And we’ve talked about that with other things Jesus has said. It doesn’t necessarily mean hate, but it means you’re not going to be able to love them equally. You’re going to have a favorite. I keep seeing this video on the internet where the parents do this test where they both look at the kid and supposedly the theory is the kid will look at the one they love more first.
We have not tried this, nor are we going to. I don’t think either one of us could try this. But Charla will ask Abigail, who’s your favorite?
And she’ll say both. That’s a smart girl. Are we probably both the favorite probably not she probably loves one more than the other it probably depends on how the day has gone in all honesty we’re not going to be able to love god and money equally we’re not going to be able to serve two masters equally and so instead he’s telling us to take everything we have and give it to that one master don’t don’t try to make money your other master or stuff your other master, take it and put it under the one master. Everything gets submitted to Jesus.
What Our Response Reveals
And the way we respond to Jesus’ teaching about this reveals what we truly love. The Pharisees heard this, heard what they were supposed to do, and they got mad. And that tells us something. It diagnoses a problem here in verse 14 that when we hear something like that where he’s teaching us about wisdom and we get mad about it, there’s something else we love above Him.
When we hear the truth and get mad about it, there’s a problem. Now, do I tell you that because I think anybody’s sitting here getting mad? I don’t see anybody that looks mad. I’m telling you this because it’s here in verse 14.
They heard this, they got mad, it demonstrated that there was a problem. You know what? I will listen to sermons, I’ll listen to Bible teaching, And I will get mad for one of two reasons. I don’t get mad every time, but I’ll get mad for one of two reasons.
I’ll get mad because they’re promoting something that’s blatantly unbiblical. Or I’ll get mad because, well, that’s not right. It hits a little too close to home. What is that old saying when you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, it’s the one that yelps that you hit?
If I react badly to what he said, it only demonstrates that what he says is true. There’s so many directions that we could go with a passage like this, and I think that’s why it’s confusing to us many times, because there are any number of applications, and it may not be that just one of them is right. Now, does it have one meaning? Yes, but it can have multiple applications.
But I think the point he’s trying to make to us here is that we need to have the focus and the intensity and the urgency about kingdom things that the world has about stuff. And not to fall in line with the world and focus on things that one day aren’t going to matter. Every rusted out, beat up, shell of a truck sitting in my neighbor’s yard was once somebody’s baby that rolled off the showroom floor brand new. Everything that we, everything that the world tells us to value one day turns to dust or rust. And it’s okay to have those things. But what he’s telling us about is it’s better to use those things in ways that will last for eternity than to make those things that won’t last the goal.
