The Christian and Money: Unjust Steward

Luke 16:9 is our Lord's conclusion to the parable of the unjust steward. "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." This is the conclusion to the parable. In the parable, the Lord taught about a man who had been wasting his master's goods. You and I are stewards. God has committed to us our lives, the very breath in our lips. He's committed to us material wealth, spiritual wealth, the gospel's been committed to us. Time, opportunity, talents and gifts, all of these have been given to us by our gracious and loving God. And one day we're going to have to give an accounting. And when the man was called to account, he was afraid because he knew he would lose his job. 

What did the man do? Well, he called all the debtors in. He was a shrewd man, wasn't he? And he gave them all a nice discount on their debt, and he made friends. Now, Jesus didn't tell us to be unethical as this man was, no. He said just learn from him, he used his opportunity to prepare for the future. So that when he lost his job, he had many friends willing to help him find another job and take him into their homes while he was looking. And so the application is very practical. We should use the money God has given to us, the opportunity, the time, all that God's given to us to make friends for heaven, so that when we die and go to heaven, they are going to be welcoming us there. 

DL Moody died and went to glory. While he was dying he said, "Earth is receding, heaven is approaching." And I wonder how many thousands of people Mr. Moody met in heaven when he arrived there because he was a soul winner, an evangelist who shared the gospel with millions of people. Now, our Lord goes on to apply this parable to us today. So we will read Luke 16 beginning at Luke 16:10. "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." 

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things and they derided him. And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail." 

Now, in these verses, our Lord is applying the principle of this parable to our lives. He's telling us that when it comes to wealth, you and I can live on one of three levels. Now the lowest level is that of the Pharisees. They were the children of the devil, you'll recall. They were trying to serve both God and money. Jesus on several occasions called them the children of the devil. That's the lowest possible level to say, "Well, I can live both for God and for mammon," and Jesus says, "No you can't." 

The next level is the level of the children of this world, the children of this age. Luke 16:8, "For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light." And these people are serving money. The Pharisees are trying to serve both God and money. The children of this world are serving money. And then the highest level of all, the level that he wants us to live on, is the level of the children of God, where we serve God and God alone. 

Well, let's begin at this lowest possible level, trying to serve both God and money. The Pharisees were lovers of money. Now the Pharisees were righteous people as far as the law was concerned. They tithed, they fasted twice a week. The Jews were only asked to fast once a year, but they fasted twice a week. They prayed long prayers, they wore special fringes on their garments so people would know how holy they were. There were some Pharisees who truly were sincere, they wanted to seek the truth of the Lord, but for the most part, the Pharisees were a group of men who were self-righteous, they condemned other people, and of course, they are the ones who helped to crucify the Lord Jesus. 

In Matthew 23, you find the Lord Jesus Christ giving his condemnation of the scribes and the Pharisees. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" And he had quite a bit to say about money. Matthew 23:14 of Matthew 23, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers, therefore you will receive greater condemnation." They were robbing the poor widows, using their religion to cover up their covetousness and robbing people. Of all racketeers, religious racketeers are the worst. 

You recall the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2 clearly said, 1 Thessalonians 2:5, "For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness," literally a pretext for greed, "God is witness." Paul did not use his position as an apostle, nor his ministry of the Word of God as a cloak to cover up greed. I say it again, it is so easy to use religion to cover up all kinds of things that are wicked and evil, and that's what the Pharisees were doing. In fact, their spiritual values were all out of order. In Matthew 23 beginning at Matthew 23:16, Jesus said, "Woe to you blind guides who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'" In other words, the gold is more important than the temple where God dwells. 

And so they had their values all confused. They loved money. Now how could they do this? They were students of the Word of God. The Old Testament law condemned covetousness. Exodus 20:17, Moses gets to the end of the Ten Commandments. "You shall not covet," and he lists some things. Your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, anything that is your neighbor's. And that certainly would include that poor widow, wouldn't it? 

The Old Testament condemns covetousness. The prophets condemn covetousness. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, they cry out against the people who are exploiting others. The religious racketeers of their day. Jeremiah 6:13, "Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely." So Jeremiah had them in his day. Ezekiel had to put up with them, even after the nation had been overcome by the Babylonians. Here's Ezekiel the prophet, Ezekiel 33 of his prophecy and Ezekiel 33:31. God says to Ezekiel, "So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as my people and they hear your words, but they do not do them, for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain." I wonder how often that goes on in congregations. 

Of course, they could have given some excuses, you know. Luke 16:15, they were justified before men. The men did not condemn the Pharisees. Society didn't condemn them. Jesus did. What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. That word abomination carries with it the idea of it smells, it has a stench to it. Instead of their lives being a fragrant odor before God, their lives were a stench before God. We cannot love both God and money. We cannot serve both God and money. Jesus makes it very clear, you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is the Aramaic word for wealth. Jesus treated money as a God. He said you are looking at the wrong viewpoint, you are looking at life from the wrong perspective. You can't have two Gods. There can only be one. 

Now the children of this world live on a second level and they serve money. Money is their God. They don't try to serve both God and money, they just learn how to make money. Of course, this is idolatry. Colossians 3:5, "Covetousness which is idolatry." 

You know, money is like a God. When Jesus compared money to a God, he certainly knew what he was saying. Money has power. People with money think they can do anything. Money is held in high esteem, it's worshipped, it's wanted. People die for money. People work hard for money. Money demands your service. No servant can serve two masters. And you can love money. The Pharisees who were lovers of money. Whatever relationship we have to God, we can have to money. We trust God, you can trust money. You rejoice in the Lord, you can rejoice in money. You are praised for belonging to the Lord, you are praised for having a lot of money. Money has power. Money attracts influence. And there are many people who make money their God. 

But you see, the tragedy here is this, you are the loser. Our Lord in Luke 16:10-17, our Lord contrasts two kinds of so-called wealth. He talks about the unrighteous mammon, the mammon of unrighteousness. He talks about that which is least. He talks about the false riches. He says that which is another's. What's he saying? He's saying if you want to serve money, you are serving an unrighteous God. Now this is where I disagree with some of my friends. I do not believe that money is neutral. I believe that money is filthy. I believe that only God can sanctify filthy lucre and unrighteous mammon. I believe Jesus teaches that money is fundamentally sinful. I know it can be used for good things if God sanctifies it. But I tell you when money gets a hold of somebody's life, it just tears that person down. 

I agree with Richard Foster in his book, Money, Sex, and Power, that money is fundamentally corrupt and therefore it will corrupt unless we allow the Lord to sanctify it. In Luke 16:9 he calls it unrighteous mammon. It's not neutral, it's dirty. In Luke 16:10 he says money is that which is least. In Luke 16:11 he calls it false riches. "If you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" So you see there's the unrighteous mammon of this world, there's the righteous wealth of God's kingdom. The money of this world is that which is least. God's riches that which is greatest. 

The money of this world is false wealth, but the money we have, the riches we have from the Lord, that is the true wealth. Luke 16:12 he says, "And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give to you what is your own?" What you have in money belongs to somebody else, it can be taken from you. But that which God gives to you of the true riches is yours forever. 

The highest level on which we can live and should live is that we serve God alone. We are living for him. Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." The Pharisees compromised and tried to serve both God and money. The children of this world serve money as their God. But you and I want to live on the highest level possible, serving God alone. 

Now this involves four elements. Number one, faithfulness. Notice in Luke 16:10-12 how often he talks about being faithful. "Moreover, brethren, is required among stewards that a man be found faithful." 1 Corinthians 4:2. Faithful to use our opportunities, faithful to use what God has given to us. Faithfulness. I think at the judgment seat of Christ, many Christians are going to be embarrassed when they look at the balance books. When God opens the books and says, "This is what I gave to you and this is what you did with it and you wasted it." They're going to be embarrassed. They're going to lose their reward. Lose their opportunity to glorify the Lord. Faithfulness, that's number one. 

Two, priorities. Priorities. Putting God first in our lives. Now God gives to us richly all things to enjoy. No problem there. 1 Timothy 6:17. God made things. God says things are good. God wants us to enjoy things. God knows that we need things. "Your Father in heaven knows that you have need of these things." But things must not come between us and God. Our priorities must be right. "He who is faithful in what is least," that's money, "is faithful also in much." Now we'd reverse that. We'd say, "Well, if he proved he could take care of $10,000, so we can trust him with $10." That's not what Jesus said. Jesus said if you can be trusted with the $10, then you can get the much later on. 

But he's also referring to spiritual riches. Don't trust the message or the ministry of a person who doesn't handle money in a Christian way. That's what he's saying here. If you're not faithful in that which is least, money, then you can't be trusted in that which is greatest, the spiritual riches. And any ministry or any individual who is not faithful in the use of material resources, accountable, you can't trust that message and you can't trust that ministry. 

Faithfulness, priorities, commitment. No servant can serve two masters. Either he'll hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot, you cannot. Doesn't say you should not. You cannot. We should not because we cannot. We're wasting our time. It is vanity to even try it. You cannot serve God and mammon. That's commitment. Loving loyalty to the Lord. Committing ourselves totally to him. 

Finally, along with faithfulness and priorities and commitment, there must be a concern for the lost. We must live with eternity's values in view. "Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness." What does that mean? It means while we are alive and employed, while we have some kind of income, let's use our time, our energy, our money, our talent, our gifts, our influence to win people to Jesus Christ. 

You see, money can send people to hell. It does. Some of the Pharisees went to hell because of their love for money. The rich young ruler, if he did not later repent, went to hell because of his love of money. In Luke 16, a rich man woke up in a place of torment because he loved money and would not repent and would not trust God. Money is a marvelous servant, it's a terrible master. The children of the devil live at the lowest level possible. They're trying to serve both God and money. The children of this world live for money. The children of God live to serve God. Their values are spiritual and eternal. With eternity's values in view, Lord, with eternity's values in view, let me do each day's work for Jesus with eternity's values in view.

It starts with us. In fact, in 2 Corinthians 8-9, which I recommend to everybody when it comes to Christian giving, they point out that these people first gave themselves to the Lord and then they gave their money. Now that's what we need. First I've got to give myself. Romans 12:1, "Present your body a living sacrifice." Then I won't be using my money for the worship of my body. And then after we have given ourselves to the Lord, we give of our substance. And after all, what we give He has first of all given us. I don't manufacture these things. If I start counterfeiting money, you'll find me in jail someplace. We cannot do this ourselves. Wasn't it Solomon when he dedicated the temple who said to the Lord, "We give you but your own." We're just giving back to You what You've given to us. And so I think it's very important that we keep our vision right and start sending ahead and not just have false values. One of the strangest verses in the Bible is over in the book of Acts 20 where Paul quotes Jesus. Paul didn't hear Jesus say this, one of the apostles told it to him. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." I wonder how many Christians really believe that.