The Gospel of Luke: A Life to Steward

Luke 16: 1-13 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 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. 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. “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Sermon Notes: 3/15/2026 This is one of Jesus's more complicated parables, but it is ultimately about stewardship. In Jesus's time, it was normal for a slave to act as a household manager for his master. In this parable, the manager is removed from office, but on his way out the door he becomes very productive. We can tell from the large amounts that the debtors in this story are businessmen operating at a large scale. The manager makes deals with these businessmen and thus gains favor in the community even as his favor with his mater deteriorates. So even as he is kicked out, he is making arrangements to be welcomed into a new home. So regardless of his reasons, we must note that the manager is crafty and shrewd. In the end even the master tells the manager he is done well. So what are we to take from the parable? The manager, a sinner, has his eyes set on his destiny. He is operating with more shrewdness regarding temporal circumstances than Christians often operate regarding eternal circumstances. We must be more committed to making investments in the next life than the world is in making investments in this life. If we believe eternity is real, it should change our urgency and change how we operate with our resources--time, talent, and treasure! This is a diagnostic of our character. After the parable, Jesus moves from a story about stewardship to a diagnostic about how we handle money. Jesus's point is that money just unmasks who we really are. What we do with what we have reveals the state of our heart. Jesus explains that what we have in our possession is not even really ours. Even we ourselves belong to God. Jesus paid a heavy price for us. If we truly understand what we have received in Christ, it frees us to give of what we have. We realize that we are already infinitely wealthy, and thus can give generously of our time, talent, and treasure.

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The Gospel of Luke: A Life to Steward is an episode from City Light Church Sermons by Brian Crawford.

This episode is 54:26 long.

This episode was published on Mar 15, 2026.

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