Before Mammon Becomes Worthless • Luke 16:1-13

1:00:37 Teaching begins

Notes

Here’s a story about a clever thief who steals from his master one last time.

You might read this and think, “Really? Are we supposed to be clever thieves and bribe our way into heaven?”

We’re supposed to be clever and see the disaster that’s coming and provide for ourselves.

We’re to be better than thieves and make our investment not for ourselves but for heaven.

I’m reading in Luke chapter 16.

1. Jesus is now talking to His disciples.

A. Remember that a disciple learns everything his master has to teach, and he sticks with his master to learn his character.

B. Remember also that disciple means personal commitment to Jesus. Crowds go with Jesus everywhere, but they are casual, in it for what they can see or get. They’re not His disciples because they’re not committed. A disciple is committed to following Jesus.

C. The goal of a disciple is to be like his master. If your life doesn’t look like Jesus there’s something wrong.

D. Being a disciple of Jesus is the work of a lifetime. It’s not instant, it’s a commitment to growth and not giving up. It’s not a side issue in life, like a hobby. It is the main issue in life. “Disciple” is who I am.

2. To His disciples and to all the rest Jesus tells a story about a clever survivor.

A. A rich man has a steward, a trusted servant who has authority to manage and oversee his master’s possessions for him.

B. This steward took advantage of his position and has squandered his master’s possessions to waste it on his pleasures.

C. He’s been caught, his master is furious, tells him to make an accounting, tell me what I have left after you wasted my goods. He’s fired.

D. The steward realises that he has ruined his dream job and he’s thinking about the near future. In a little time he’s going to hit the street. He doesn’t want to be a menial worker, but as soon as this news hits no one will touch him. You can’t trust him. He doesn’t want to be a beggar after living a very good life.

E. He has to do something right now while he still has time and his position. It’s got to be right now, because disaster is on the way.

F. He cleverly uses what he still owns.

1. I bet the master took his keys so he can’t lay hands on any more of the master’s goods.

2. So he uses the one thing that’s temporarily his, his authority as steward. He gives the debtors discounts. Now they don’t have to pay their full bill. These debtors say, “Wow, what a great and generous guy!”

G. When the steward is fired, these people are sympathetic to him. “Well, gee, you sure helped me then, I’ll help you now.”

H. The master has to admit, that steward was ingenious. He saw his disaster coming and provided for it by making friends who would take care of him when he got kicked out.

3. Here’s Jesus’ punchline, the point of this story: Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

A. You’re also about to be kicked out of your position.

B. You don’t have much to work with and you don’t have much time. Realise the end is coming.

C. Provide for your future termination. Use what little you do have right now to make a Friend in high places. He will welcome you into His house forever.

D. Do this, not as a clever thief, but as a faithful steward of Jesus.

1. When Jesus died for your sins He bought you out of your previous life. He paid for your sins, failure, mistakes. You belong to Him, and everything you own belongs to Him.

2. You are now His steward over all the money, possessions and relationships you used to own. He is the Master. You are His servant to oversee what is His.

4. That’s why Jesus begins speaking on faithfulness. The most important quality of a steward is faithfulness.

A. This crafty steward lived for himself and provided for himself and was not loyal to his master. As Jesus’ disciple and steward you are to be better than that. You are to be faithful to your Master, using His resources to please Him.

B. Faithful means steadfast in affection or allegiance : loyal. Keeping relationship. It means firm in keeping promises or in doing your duty : conscientious: governed by or conforming to the dictates of conscience. You know what is right and what is wrong and you choose to do what is right to maintain relationship. Does Jesus keep His promises? Is He faithful to what He has said? Then you are to be the same.

C. “Steward” is a position of trust. Oversee this for me so I don’t lose anything and even gain. Do business with this till I return, as if you were me. I would want all this to earn more money, you do this for me. I’m depending on you.

D. Either you’re faithful or you’re not.“Kind of faithful” really means “completely undependable.”

1. You’re faithful in small things because they matter to your master. You’re faithful in large matters because they matter to your master. Relationship with the master is more important than the comfort of your life.

2. You don’t care about small things because it doesn’t matter to you. Who cares little picky things?

3. And in large issues when faithfulness is costly you won’t be faithful because you care more about yourself than the person you serve. Everyone can relate to Peter. He said, “All the others may deny You, Lord, but I never will.” And then to save himself Peter denied Jesus three times.

4. Faithful is consistent or it’s not faithful.

5. Jesus wants you to be faithful in stewarding unrighteous mammon for Him so that you will receive the true riches.

A. Mammon means money and also possessions. It comes from an Aramaic word taken into Greek, meaning “that in which one trusts.”

B. What makes Mammon unrighteous is that it takes the place of God in a person’s heart. It commands complete obedience opposite to God. It controls a person’s life. If I get money I will live. If I lose money I will die. It’s a false god. “Money is the answer for everything,” you read in Ecclesiastes. But not when serious illness comes. Not when death comes. Mammon did not create you and does not give you life. It will fail, as Jesus says. Life does not consist in your possessions.

C. Life consists in giving your life away like Jesus.

1. John 12:24-25 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.

2. 2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

D. True riches are the next life. Eternal life, glory, being with Jesus. Seeing the true God. We are using everything in this life to prepare for the next life. That’s where we’re headed.

5. So what?

A. If you depend on a temporary, insufficient god you are already unfaithful to God. “You shall have no other gods before Me,” He says. Whatever you obey, that’s your god.

B. You need a new master that is not material, not temporary, not false, not a created thing, but the uncreated living God. Jesus Himself lives in the heart, and the love of Jesus crowds out all other loves. When Jesus lives in your heart He fulfils the commandment, “You shall have no other gods besides Me.”

C. Keep receiving His love and give that love out to others. Realise just giving is not what Jesus has in mind. 1 Corinthians 13:3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

D. So whatever you do, do it in love. Love Jesus, love that person in need. If you don’t have enough to help, find a way to get the help.

E. Whatever you do, do it now. Proverbs 3:27-28 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,” when you have it with you.

F. The future is coming, so before Mammon becomes worthless invest it in heaven right now.

Let’s pray.