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Author: Stephen Weller
681 words, 4 minutes read time

Commending A Dishonest Manger

Scripture: Luke 16:8-9

In the previous lesson we left the dishonest and condemned manager looking out for his own future as he struck deals with his master’s debtors. In this lesson we will look at the response of the master to what the manager just did.

^{Lk 16:8} “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. ⁹ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

Why did the master commend the dishonest manger for his shrewdness? The answer to that question is uncertain. The footnote for verse 8a on p1990 in the ESV Study Bible, copyright 2008 by Crossway Bibles, gives three possibilities: “(1) In giving the discounts, the manager had excluded any commission for himself; but the discounts seem too high for that to have been the case. (2) The debts were hard to collect and, by reducing the amounts, the manager provided a sudden influx of cash for his master. (3) The master commended the manger for his shrewdness in looking out for himself (but this does not mean that the master praises him for his evil). In any case, the details of the parable should not be pressed, for a parable often makes only one mail point, and here that point is that the manager had great foresight to anticipate his financial needs after his dismissal, thus using his financial expertise to make friends for himself.”

The “sons of this world” could refer to the unsaved and they are contrasted to the “sons of light” which could refer to Christians. The point being made here seems to be that the unsaved are better able and show more concerned in taking care of the things in this world than Christians are in taking care of eternal matters. Think about you and your Christian friends; what draws your and their attention in terms of importance? Is it the things of the world or Jesus and his word and preparation for the life to come?

“And I tell you” expresses the importance of what Jesus is going to say next. To “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth” refers to how we use our money; some of which may have been obtain by sinful methods in our business dealings or in other ways. Do we desire to use our money to gratify ourselves or do we use it in looking out for the needs of others? Do we allow this wealth to corrupt our lives or be a blessing by serving God with it?

It is important how we come by our wealth, our motive for having wealth, and what we do with that wealth. Jesus is pointing out the importance of using our wealth in helping out others that God burdens us with. We can serve God in many ways with the wealth he has given us. No matter how much we have, in comparison to the majority in the world, we here in the west are wealthy. As we continue to give, maybe we will outlive our wealth and if we do be sure you have cultivated a means of receiving help from others if and when needed. That last statement reflects a difference in culture between the time of Jesus and ours here in the west. In our old age, we don’t rely on others, especially our children to care for us. It is expected that we have determined a means to care for ourselves.

Conclusion

The point being stressed is the importance of how we obtain our wealth and then what we do with it. Do we continue to give it out so that our “barns” have room to receive more, or are we like the rich man who needed bigger barns because we are keeping it all for ourselves?