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 50. 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 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. Let me open this in prayer. O Lord, as we open now your word, we pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened so that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth. and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Amen. Let me begin this time by asking you a question. What is the purpose for which you make money? You create wealth. Is it for a good retirement? Is it for the well-being of you, your family? Is it because you find safety in your positions in time of trouble? By and large, most of humanity spends a lot of time thinking and working towards making money. In today's world, money is the idol. Making money, running behind money, having position, that is the idol. If you go to the eastern part of world, it's all about having a good job, good houses, a good retirement. Nobody wants to do anything with the true and living God. So how should we Christians think about money, our use of possessions? Jesus has often spoken about the subject of wealth. In Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 and 20, he said, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus spoke about the rich fool who trusted in his riches until Lord asked him what he would do with that money if his soul was required of him that very night. In Luke chapter 6, Jesus pronounces woes to the rich and say, but woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation. Then is it wrong for you to be wealthy? The answer is no. In Bible, Abraham was a wealthy person. Isaac was a wealthy person. Joseph of Arimathea in New Testament was a wealthy person. Then is it wrong to work? Paul shows in 2 Thessalonians 3 that if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Is it wrong to provide for your family? Paul reminds in Timothy, that if anyone does not provide for his own, then he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. But now the question remains, what does Jesus want you to do with your possessions or with your wealth? Jesus wants you to work hard and make money. Jesus wants you to provide for your family. Jesus wants you to save money for rainy days. But there is still a greater thing for which Jesus wants you to use your wealth. What I want to show you from this passage is this. Jesus exhorts you to wisely use your wealth to make friends for eternal life. life so that when it fails, they may welcome you into the eternal dwellings. It's very simple. Jesus exhorts you to wisely use your wealth to make friends for eternal life so that when it fails, they may welcome you into the eternal dwellings. This we are going to see under two headings. The shrewdness of the dishonest manager in making temporal friends. The sureness of the dishonest manager in making temporal friends. Verses 1 to 8a. And then the exhortation of Jesus in wisely using your wealth to make friends for eternal life. 8b to 13. Now this is a very difficult passage, very difficult parable, many have struggled to interpret this because Jesus is talking about this dishonest manager and he is trying to draw an application from from what he does. So this is a difficult passage. So this begins like this. He also said to the disciples, he was addressing 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. It was a very common in those days to have a property manager. So, we see a rich man who had a property manager who was managing a large estate. Perhaps the rich man had an agricultural land, he had a farmland and the manager was managing the estate. Here in this parable, the manager was dishonest. He was a steward. Something was given to him to look after. But he's dishonest. He was using the privileges which he had got for his own benefits. He never thought that a day would come when he would need to give an account of what he did with what he had. He never realized that he was a steward and not the owner of the property to use the property whatever way he wished. But now his day of reckoning has come. Now the day of judgment has come. He has been fired. He has been fired from his job. The rich man, the owner of the farm tells him, Turn in the account of your management for you can no longer be the manager. He has been fired from the job. And now there's a difficult situation for this dishonest manager. There is a difficult situation. For the manager, this is a sudden midlife crisis. Many times you might have heard of midlife crisis. When you're 30s or when you're 40s and suddenly there is a crisis in your life. And that is what exactly is happening with him. He never thought about this midlife crisis and now there is suddenly there is a midlife crisis for him. He understands the reality of unemployment. Unemployment is really, really hard. Many people in fact even commit suicide when they realize that they are not going to have any more employment. So he realizes the reality that he is going to be unemployed. He understands his own weakness now that he's vulnerable because his master is going to take away the job from him. So what he says, what he says to himself, and the manager said to himself, what shall I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I'm not strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that people, so that when I'm removed from management, people may receive me into their houses. He is not strong enough to work and he's ashamed to beg. All this time he had a prestigious job. Everybody respected him because he was a property manager. People listened to his commands, those who worked under him. And now suddenly he's fired from his job and he's ashamed to beg. Perhaps many people in the town knew him as a property manager, but now how could he beg? What does he do? He ventures into a course of action which would secure his future in light of his immediate unemployment. He's going to do something which will make people receive him into their homes. For him, time is very limited. the master has fired him but has given him maybe few hours or maybe one or two day before he should pack his belongings and leave the job. But now within that time he has decided to do something very special, something very different which is going to secure his future. He is going to do something in the present now for which he will reap benefits in the future. He has decided to show favor to people with what he has in the present so that he will receive favor from them and return in the future. verse 5. So summoning his master's debtor, 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. He's very smart. Look at his smartness, the cleverness, the cunningness. He quickly puts the plan into action. He deals with debtor one by one. Secrecy is the clue here. He wanted to do everything secret, everything under the table. He offers huge relief to these debtors. 100 measures of oil is around 875 gallons. He cuts the liability of the debtor by half. take your bill and write 50. And to another he says, how much do you owe? He said, a hundred measures of wheat. He said to him, take your bill and write 80. Adulteration, especially in those days, it was easy to adulterate oil. but much more difficult to do anything with wheat. So that's why there was a higher markup price for oil, but a lesser discount for wheat. Nevertheless, even he receives a good debt relief from this manager, the one who owed 80, the one who owed 100 measures of wheat, he also received a pretty good discount. Perhaps there were many more people, but examples of these two are enough to make the point. The dishonest manager has secured his future in a very short little time. This is what I want you to notice, my brothers and sisters. With what he had in a very little time, he has secured his future. Now the master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. The first thing what you need to notice is that the master has commended him for his shrewdness. his cunningness, his wiseness in a very short period of time. He provided for his future in a very short period of time. Second, most probably he cannot take this dishonest manager to court. Why? In first century Israel, it was prohibited for Jews to take interest from fellow Jews. And most of the businesses went around the law by marking up the commodities higher than what they were in the original. So if the business loan was 80 then they would require 100 to be returned back. Most probably the rich man was actually cheating everybody. He himself was being fraudulent. So, the manager, the dishonest manager, he was very smart. He just wiped off the excess capital or interest and there is nothing the master can do in this case now. If he approaches court, then he will first indict himself. So, it's tricky for him. He cannot say anything to this dishonest manager because if he says something, he is going to dishonest. The only thing this master can do, the rich man can do is to commend the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. The dishonest manager has acted very shrewdly and decisively in light of his immediate unemployment crisis. He has secured his future by acting shrewdly in the present. This was our first point. So what does Jesus wants you to learn from this parable? This is one of the most unusual parable of Jesus. Many find this parable hard to interpret. Is Jesus condoning the dishonesty of the manager? Is Jesus telling you to be dishonest, you to be stealing, you to be conniving? But notice the word Jesus uses here, the shrewdness. That is the point which you need to take from here today. Jesus is not saying that stealing is okay. Jesus is not endorsing his dishonesty here. But his shrewdness, cleverness, being wise for the future, being resourceful in a very short period of time. Stealing is always wrong. Bible teach you do not steal. Lying is wrong. Conniving is wrong. But at the same time Jesus warns you to be wise with your limited opportunities. Jesus says for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than sons of light. He is comparing the sons of this world with the sons of light. Before we move forward further, notice that there are only two categories of people in this world. sons of this world and sons of light. Either you are in Christ and sons of light or you are outside of Christ and sons of this world. Either you are a sheep or either you are a goat. Either you are a vessel of mercy or a vessel of wrath. Who are you today? Who are you? Are you sons of light If no, then today is the day you receive Him. And this is the promise of the Word of God that as many as have received Him, to them He gave them the power to become the sons of God. What does Jesus says to you today evening from this passage? Verse 9, And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings. What kind of friends Jesus is talking here? Is he talking about friends who are now here today and no more tomorrow? No. He is talking about friends whom you gain through your investment in gospel enterprise. He is talking about friends who will inherit eternal life because of your sacrifice, because of your giving, because of your time, because of your abilities, because of all what you have. Jesus is teaching you to use your wealth, your possession, all for the kingdom of God. In and of itself, wealth is not unrighteous. This is an idiom. Because most of the time, wealth has a corrupting influence in most of the people today in the world. One or the other day, most of your possessions will fail. But Jesus wants you to use what you have for his kingdom. Jesus wants you to make friends. Friends, those who are going to last, not only in this world, but the world to come. I think when Jesus is speaking about wealth here in this passage, I think he's speaking in a very broad term. He's speaking about all of your possessions, your abilities and talent. He's speaking about your typing, your car, your time, your talents and everything. He wants you to use all of your possessions and abilities for the expansion of His kingdom. He is not looking for people with lots of wealth. He is not looking for people those who are extremely rich. He is not looking for a large church. But He is looking for faithful people. He is looking for people those who are intentional. You don't need lots of money to gain friends for eternal life, but a willingness and intentionality. The friends which you make for the kingdom of Christ are going to be your true friends for eternity. They are going to welcome you to heaven when your possessions and your life will fail. They are going to say to you, brother or sister, Thank you for inviting me for a meal on that particular day. And when you share the gospel with me, thank you for giving me a ride in your car to the church that day. And because of that, I became a Christian. Because of that, I came to know the Lord. They are going to say to you, thank you for spending that time, that particular day, that particular afternoon with me and sharing the gospel with me. Let me ask you, are you not excited that none of your worldly positions you can take with you, but these people as your true positions into heaven? None of these things which you see today, you're going to take, you're not going to take that with you. One or the other day, Jesus would come back and all of these things will fail. But the people whom you are going to take with you, they are going to be with you. They are, in a sense, your true possessions. Verse 10, 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. Some may say, I'm not very rich. I don't have lots of abilities. I don't have lots of talent. I lack this thing or I lack that thing. But what is Jesus teaching you? Jesus is saying, 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. You don't need to have a lot of things to serve Christ, but what you need to have is faithfulness. If you are faithful in a very little, you are going to be faithful in much. If you are not faithful in little, you are not going to be faithful in much. Recently I was talking to a man, was telling that if God gives me a lot of health, then I will serve Him. But my answer to him was that if you are not serving Lord now, then you are not going to serve then. That is just an excuse. That's what Jesus is teaching here. Verse 11. 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? This is a rhetorical question Jesus is asking you today. You all are stewards of God's kingdom. you have because God has given you. God has given you different talents and abilities. He has given different ability to different people to make wealth according to the measure God has given. Some people have more, some people have less. But the end of the day, all things come from God. All things come from Jesus. He's asking you a question. 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 yours? He's asking you, are you faithful? Are you faithful with what you have? Are you faithful with the job you have? Are you faithful with the tithing? Are you faithful in supporting your own pastor here? Are you faithful in supporting the mission work of your church? Are you faithful with the little you have? Do you consider the love of God which God has shown towards you in Christ Jesus? That you, while you are yet sinners, that Jesus died for you and he has saved you. That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. If God has given his only begotten son would he not give him back all what belongs to you? If you don't serve him faithfully, that shows that you have a different master. Verse 13, Jesus reminds his disciples that 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. Either you would serve God or either you would serve money. Either you would serve God and his kingdom with whatever you have or either you would serve yourself and the world. Whom do you want to serve? I want to encourage you to give all of your everything, abilities and everything what God has given you. I want to encourage you to serve with whatever little you have. Serve Christ faithfully and may Lord bless you and encourage you to serve Him faithfully as you pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, All things comes from you. Lord, we are steward of all things. We have because you have given us, but not always we serve you with all things what we have, but we serve our own interests. O Lord, help us to be faithful as Christ was faithful in all things Help us to be faithful with whatever we have, with whatever little we have. Help us to be faithful in a small church so we could have a big church. Help us to be faithful in our little jobs so we could have more and we could serve you. Strengthen us and help us. We ask this, pray in Jesus' name. Amen.