Luke 16

Introduction

We spent our time last week on Luke 15 and the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost younger son, and the lost elder son. There was a lot to get through, but remember: we’re working our way through Luke’s gospel at a brisk pace, taking roughly a chapter at a time and trying to discern some of the big themes. And today’s chapter begins with what is known as the parable of the shrewd manager. And the chapter ends with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In the first parable, the manager is shrewd or wise because of the way he used his master’s money for the good of others to make friends for himself. And in the second parable, the rich man disregarded Lazarus, instead of helping him. Though he was rich and could easily have relieved Lazarus’s suffering, he kept his money to himself. And between these two parables there are a number of saying about: firstly, servants who can be trusted with what they’ve been given; and servants who cannot be trusted with what they’ve been given; and secondly, about how we cannot serve both God and money; and thirdly about how God’s law does not change, but remains the same. And the theme that binds all the different parts together is money and what we’re to do with it.

Caring for the poor in Luke

This is not the first time the Lord has taught us about money in this gospel. Back in chapter 6, the Lord spoke about how we’re to do good to, and we’re to lend money to, not only our friends, but also our enemies. We’re to be merciful to them just as God is merciful to us. That is to say, we’re to show them mercy by helping them just as God helps us.

Then in chapter 10 we had the parable of the Good Samaritan and we learned that we should be good neighbours to the people around us. We’re to show love and mercy to those who need our help, no matter who they are or where they have come from.

In chapter 12 there was the parable of the rich fool. Instead of storing up our wealth for ourselves, we’re to use it for the good of others and for God’s glory. And instead of worrying about what we’ll eat and drink and wear, we’re to trust our heavenly Father for what we need. Instead of worrying, we’re to seek to do the will of our King. And what does our King want us to do? He wants us to be generous.

And then, in chapter 14, the Lord criticised those who only invite their friends and relatives to a banquet. Instead we should invite the poor and the crippled and the lame and the blind. In other words, we shouldn’t overlook the poor and the needy. We should do good to those who cannot repay us.

Caring for the poor in the Bible

So, today’s passage is not the first time which the Lord has spoken to us about our duty to love and serve the people around us and especially those who cannot repay us. We’re to use what we have received for the good of others and not spend everything we have on ourselves. Just as God has shown mercy to us, so we’re to show mercy to the people around us by helping them, no matter who they are.

And, of course, the Bible says lots about this. I don’t have time to go into it all, but let me remind you that God has filled the world with great diversity and difference. Think of Adam and Eve. Both were made in the image of God and therefore both are equally human. However, they were different from one another, because one was male and the other female. Right there, in the beginning, he created a difference between us. And then, God places us in families where there are parents and children. Parents and children are not the same, but they’re different from one another too. And from the very first family, there emerged whole societies, with rulers and subjects and employers and employees and teachers and students and so on. We’re all equally human, because we’re all made in the image of God. But we’re all different, because God has created us differently and he’s given us different roles in life. And God has distributed his gifts among us differently. He gives different talents and interests and abilities to different people: one is good at business; one is good with their hands and can build things; one is good at growing things; one is a teacher; one is a manager; another is musical; another is artistic; and so on. He distributes his gifts as he sees fit.

And God also makes one person rich and another person poor and another person something in between. In case anyone thinks that we make ourselves rich by our own hard work and skill, we need to remember that God gives us whatever skills we have and he gives us the ability to work hard. So, he gives us our life and health and strength and the inclination to work hard. Furthermore, he blesses the hard work of some, but not all. There are plenty of people around the work who work hard, but they make very little money. And so, if our hard work leads to prosperity, that too has come to us from God.

God has distributed his gifts to us as he sees fit. He has made us different from one another. But God also created us with his law in our hearts to guide us and to show us that we’re to love him and our neighbour. And if we loved our neighbour as we should, then the differences between us would not matter, because we’d help one another. But — as one theologian (H. Bavinck) says — when sin came into the world differences became oppositions. Or differences became divisions. Husbands and wives, parents and children, rich and poor and so on became enemies. Instead of loving and helping one another, we now oppose one another. We clash with one another. We fight with one another. We resent one another. Instead of giving thanks to God for what he has given us, we complain because of what he has given to our neighbour. And so it was from the very beginning when sin came into the world.

However, in due course, the Lord chose the people of Israel and he set them apart as his own to be a light to the other nations. And he gave them his law in written form to show the world how we should live. And his law contains many commandments about showing kindness to the poor and the needy. For instance, he commanded his people not to be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards the poor and to lend freely to them. Debts were to be cancelled in the seventh year and land which had been sold should be returned in the fiftieth year. If your poor neighbour gave you his cloak as security on a loan, you were to give it back every night so that he wouldn’t be cold in the night. The poor were allowed to gather the leftovers from the harvest. That’s what Ruth was doing when she went into Boaz’s field. She was permitted under the law to pick up the ears of corn which the workers left behind in order to feed herself. Workers were to be paid in good time and the tithes which the people brought to the temple were to be used to feed, not only the Levites who worked in the temple, but the immigrants and orphans and widows. And the people were forbidden from taking advantage of the immigrant, orphan and widow.

These are only a sample of the laws which the Lord gave the people of Israel to teach them that they were to show love and mercy and kindness to the poor and needy. The Lord said that there would always be poor people among them, but the rest of the people were to help them.

And then, when the Lord Jesus came into the world as one of us, he did not relax what God requires of us. In fact, he intensified what God requires by showing us that we’re to obey God inwardly as well as outwardly. He cares not only about what we do, but also about what we think.

And having said all that by way of introduction, let’s turn to today’s passage.

Verses 1 to 9

And let’s focus first on verses 1 to 9 and the parable of the shrewd manager.

The Lord said to his disciples that there was a rich man whose manager or steward was accused of wasting his possessions. So, the manager or steward was appointed to oversee the rich man’s affairs on his behalf. Think of Joseph in the Old Testament and how Potiphar left everything in Joseph’s hands so that Potiphar didn’t have to concern himself with anything. However, in the parable, someone reported to the rich man that his manager was wasting his possessions. The word translated ‘wasting’ was used in chapter 15 to describe how the lost younger son wasted all that he had. While we often assume he lived immorally, it can simply mean that he was reckless. The lost son was reckless with his money and so was this manager. Instead of increasing the man’s wealth, he wasted it.

So, the rich man called the manager and told him to give an account of his management, because he cannot be the manager any longer. In other words: ‘You’re fired.’

When the manager heard this, he wondered to himself what he would do now. He doesn’t think he’s strong enough to dig. So, he can’t take on manual labour. And he’s ashamed to beg. So, what can he do now that he’s out of a job? And that’s when he had a bright idea. That’s when he worked out a plan so that people would welcome him into their homes after he lost his job. What was his bright idea? Before he left the office for the final time, he called in each of his master’s debtors. We don’t exactly how this worked, but we think that these are tenant-farmers who rented some of the rich man’s land. And as rent for the land, the tenants agreed to give the rich man a certain amount of their produce. And they were required to give the agreed amount whether the harvest was good or bad. If it was a good harvest, then there was no problem handing over the agreed amount. But if the harvest was bad, then the tenant was in trouble.

And so, the manager called in each of the tenant-farmers and he asked one what his rent was. He replied: 800 gallons of olive oil. And the manager told him to score out 800 and write 400 instead. Another one owed 1,000 bushels of wheat. And the manager told him to score out 1000 and write 800 instead. And since we read in verse 5 that he called in ‘each one’, then that means that these two are only a sample and he did the same for all of them.

And then the Lord said in verse 8 that the master commended his dishonest manager. And that puzzles people. That puzzles us. The man was dishonest, because he made his master lose money. Part of his job was to ensure everyone paid what had been agreed. But instead of doing that, he let them away with less. Because of what he did, his master lost out. Why would anyone commend him?

The commentators make all kinds of suggestions. For instance, some say that all the manager did was remove his own commission from the bill which the tenants had to pay. The master got what he was expecting to receive, and the manager took the loss himself. Others say that, by doing what he did, he helped the master’s reputation. Now everyone regarded the master as a good and kind man, instead of a hard-nosed businessman. And there are similar suggestions.

However I think these suggestions miss the point. The text doesn’t say that the master commended the dishonest manager for his dishonesty. It says he commended the dishonest manager for acting shrewdly or wisely. He acted wisely because — by reducing all their bills — he made lots of friends for himself. From now on, there would be lots of people who would remember what he had done for them and would want to pay him back for his kindness. And while we can condemn a person for their dishonesty, we can — at the same time — marvel at their ingenuity. So, I was watching the movie, Catch Me If You Can recently which is about a con-man who stole millions of dollars over several years by posing at different times in his life as an airline pilot and doctor. And while we condemn him for his dishonesty, we can marvel at how clever he was to fool so many people for so long. And while the manager in the parable did something dishonest, nevertheless wasn’t he clever in the way be managed to win all these friends for himself by the way he used his master’s money?

And the Lord goes on in verse 8 to say that the people of this world — that is, unbelievers — are more shrewd or wise in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light — that is, believers. He’s saying that unbelievers know how to use their money to make friends. However, believers are often not so wise. But we need to use our worldly wealth, our money, to gain friends for ourselves.

That’s the parable. And what does it mean? God is like the rich man in the parable. And we are his managers. We are his stewards. Just as the rich man entrusted his wealth into the hands of the manager, so God entrusts his wealth into our hands. He gives us what we own. And just as the manager in the parable used his master’s money to help the tenant-farmers, so we’re to use what God has given us to help the people around us. We’re to be kind and generous with what God has given to us. We’re to use what he has given us for the good of others. That’s how we can be good and wise stewards of what God has given us.

That’s not to say we can’t use any of it on ourselves. But we’re not to spend all of what God has given us on ourselves, because we’re to use part of what God has given us for the good of others. And those people we have helped will then look upon us with favour. They will love us and treat us as their friends for what we have done to help them.

And the Lord says that, when our wealth is gone, we’ll be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Unbelievers make friends for this life only and their friends invite them into earthly dwellings. But believers can look forward to living with God and with all of God’s people in eternal dwellings. He means that we’ll live with God forever in the life to come. He’s not saying that the way to receive eternal life is by giving away our money. Everywhere else in the Bible it makes clear that the way to receive eternal life is by trusting in Christ the Saviour. But he is saying that he wants his believing people to make good use of what we have received by helping the people around us. Just as the manager used his master’s money for the good of others, so we’re to use what God has given us for the good of others.

And what he’s saying here is not new, because God said the same thing to the people of Israel in the Old Testament, when he commanded them to care for the poor and needy.

Verses 8 to 18

Let’s move on now to verses 10 to 18. When the Lord says in verse 10 that whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much, he’s once again using the image of a manager or steward to speak about us and about our responsibility to care for the poor. So, just as a rich man entrusts his managers with money and possessions, so God has entrusted us with money and possessions. And what will we do with them? Will we be like a faithful manager and use what he has given us for their intended purpose? Will we use them for the good of others and for the glory of God? Or will we be like a bad manager who uses what he has been given for selfish purposes? Will we spend it only on ourselves?

When he refers in verse 12 to someone else’s property, he’s thinking again of the manager who was given charge of the master’s property. And God is like a rich man and we are his managers and we are duty-bound to make good use of the money and possessions God has entrusted to us. So, will we use them for good or not? Will we use them selfishly or will we use them for the benefit of others and for God’s glory?

Or to put it another way, who is our master? We can only serve one master. So, who is our master? Is our master God? Or is our master money? If money is our master, then we will love it more than other things. And if we love it more than other things, then we’ll want to keep it all for ourself. We won’t want to give it away and we’ll hold on to it tightly. But if God is our master, then we will love him more than other things. And if we love him more than other things, then we’ll be prepared to give away our money and use it for God’s glory.

When the Pharisees heard the Lord saying these things, they began to sneer at him. But the Lord explains for us that the reason they sneered at him was because they loved money. And since they loved money, and wanted to keep it for themselves, then they were unwilling to listen to what the Lord said about giving it away. But what the Lord Jesus was saying about how we should use our money was not any different from what God said to the people of Israel about how they should their money. That’s why the Lord goes on to refer to the Law and the Prophets. He’s referring here to the Old Testament Scriptures and to what God said to the people of Israel.

And so, he says in verse 16 that the Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until the coming of John the Baptist. And then he adds that since that time — since the time when John came — the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed. So, up until John, the Law and the Prophets were proclaimed. Now the good news is proclaimed. However — and this is the point — the good news of the kingdom does not make the Law and Prophets obsolete. The good news of the kingdom hasn’t overthrown what the Law and Prophets say about the will of God. What the Law and Prophets reveal to us about God’s will for us still applies. Not one stroke of a pen has dropped out of the Law.

And what does God’s Law teach us to do? As we saw near the beginning, it teaches us to be kind and generous and to care for the poor and the needy. That was God’s will for the people of Israel in Old Testament times. And God gave his law to the people of Israel so that they could be a light to the nations. They could show the world how we’re to treat one another.

The specifics may have changed, because we no longer live in an agrarian society. None of us in church this evening is a farmer. We don’t grow crops which we can leave for the poor. And we don’t use clothes for security on loans. So, the specifics may have changed, but the principle to love one another and to care for the poor and the needy remains the same. The coming of Christ has not affected our duty to care for the poor and needy. It is still God’s will for us to be kind and generous.

And that takes us to verses 19 to 31 and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

Verses 19 to 31

And the Lord draws a sharp contrast between the two main characters in this parable. One is rich, whereas the other is a beggar. One was dressed in purple and fine linen, whereas the other was covered, not in clothes, but in sores. One lived in luxury every day. That is, he feasted sumptuously or magnificently every day. The other, however, longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. He longed to eat what fell from it, but he didn’t. No one gave it to him. And though Lazarus used to beg at the rich man’s gate, the rich man did not come to help him. He did not relieve his suffering. He did not feed him or wash his sores. The dogs came to Lazarus, but the rich man did not.

And when the two men died, the angels carried Lazarus to Abraham’s side. In the Bible, Abraham is regarded as the father of every true believer. And so, by saying that Lazarus was taken to Abraham’s side, the Lord is telling us that Lazarus was a true believer. He may not have had much in this life, but he possessed a true faith. And since he was a believer, then, when he died, he was taken to heaven. Though he may have been despised in this life, the Lord loved him and brought him into his presence.

What happened to the rich man after he died? The Lord tells us that he was in hell, where he was in torment. Sometimes, when we do well in this life, we assume that God must be pleased with us and that he’s giving us our wealth as a reward. However, what happened to the rich man tells us that wealth is not always a sign that God is pleased with us. Very often, God gives us wealth to test us to see what is in our hearts and to see what we really love. And it’s clear from the parable that the rich man loved himself and his money more than anything else. And since he loved himself and his money more than anything else, then he was not willing to use what God had given him to help poor Lazarus.

And, of course, he ended up in hell for the same reason anyone is sent to hell, which is to be punished for all that they have done wrong in this life. And one of the things the rich man did wrong is that he did not help Lazarus. He ignored this poor man at his gate.

The Lord went on to say that the rich man looked up and saw Abraham far away. Heaven and hell are far apart. And he called to Abraham to show him pity and to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water in order to cool the rich man’s tongue. And that tells us that he recognised Lazarus. So, while he was on the earth, he knew Lazarus. He had seen him at his gate. He had seen him, but he did not help him. And it also tells us that hell is place of unbearable suffering.

But Abraham replied by saying to him that in this life the rich man received his good things, whereas Lazarus received bad things. But now a great reversal has taken place because the rich man, who once received good things, is in agony in hell, whereas Lazarus, who once received bad things, has been comforted in heaven. And Abraham went on to say that a great chasm which cannot be crossed separates them, so that those in heaven cannot cross over to hell; and those in hell cannot cross over to heaven. And so, Lazarus is unable to cross over to where the rich man is to help him.

And that’s when the rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his father’s house to warn his brothers. What does he want to warn them about? He wants to warn his brothers that hell awaits those who do not do the will of God. That’s why the rich man is now in hell and he wants someone to warn his brothers so that they will not end up in hell with him.

So, will you send Lazarus to warn my brothers? And in the parable, Abraham replied that they don’t need someone like Lazarus to rise from the dead to warn them. Why not? Because they already have Moses and the Prophets. In other words, they already have the Old Testament Scriptures. And what do the Old Testament Scriptures teach us? Remember the things I mentioned at the beginning? The Old Testament Scriptures contain all kinds of commandments which make clear that we’re to kind and generous and we’re to care for the poor and the needy and we’re not to keep all that God has given us for ourselves. We’re to use what he has given us for the good of others. That’s what the Law and Prophets teach us.

So, the rich man’s brothers didn’t need Lazarus to come and warn them, because they already had the Old Testament Scriptures which make clear what God requires. They show us what he wants us to do.

Conclusion

But the Old Testament Scriptures also show us something else. When we do wrong, when we fall short, when we realise that we haven’t done what God requires, the Old Testament Scriptures show us that God is merciful and gracious and he’s slow to anger and he’s abounding in steadfast love and he’s willing to remove our sins from us as far as the east is from the west and to remember them no more. And because God is merciful and gracious, he sent his Only Begotten Son into the world as one of us to offer himself on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sins in order to make peace for us with God. By suffering God’s wrath in our place, he saved us from hell. And so, though we haven’t done all that God requires, we know that those who trust in Christ as Saviour will not enter hell, but we’ll go into God’s presence, because of what Christ has done for us on the cross.

And until he takes us there, he gives his believing people his Spirit to enable us to do what God commands us to do in the Law and the Prophets and to use what God has given us for the good of others and to care for the poor and needy.

How we do that in practice will vary from person to person and it will depend on what God has given us and it will vary according to our circumstances in life. For instance, those with dependent children will probably have less disposable income than those with no dependent children. And so, those with dependent children will probably have less to give away. And while some people have money to give away, other people have time to give away, and they can work for a charity which helps the poor. Or someone else might have the chance, depending on their circumstances and career, to influence public policy and to shape how the government treats the poor and needy. But the Lord has made clear in the Law and the Prophets and in the New Testament that he wants us to care for the poor and the needy.

And this is one of the ways the kingdom of God acts like yeast in the world, which we were thinking about a couple of weeks ago. As members of Christ’s kingdom, when we care for the poor and the needy in obedience to our King’s command, then we’re affecting the world around us for good and for God’s glory.