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Welcome Back! Today, we’ll be combining the gospels of … for the purpose of…
So let’s dive in.
Luke 16:1–13
Jesus also said to His disciples, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in to ask, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in an account of your management, for you cannot be manager any longer.’ The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking away my position? I am too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg. I know what I will do, so that after my removal from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’ And he called in each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first. ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Take your bill,’ said the manager. ‘Sit down quickly, and write fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he replied. ‘Take your bill and write eighty,’ he told him. The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.
For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings. Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches? And if you have not been faithful with the belongings of another, who will give you belongings of your own? No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and money.”
My Thoughts
There are three things that make the worldly world go round; Power, Sex, and Money. Jesus talks about all three but of the three, money is at the top of the list. Some estimates are as high as 10-15% of the gospels address money and possessions.
None of these are evil in themselves. They are like fire. Used wisely and you can cook a great meal, warm your house, and have a comfy hearth right in your living room. Abuse it and you can burn your house down. Of the three, money seems the most benign. But one small match can start a forest ablaze.
And here’s the crazy part; God is monitoring how we spend our money. Are we using it wisely as an investment into eternal things? Or are we wasting it on the temporal and frivolous. Another way to look at it is “Do we own and steward our money? Or does money own and steward us? And Lastly, Who is our God? Money or the Creator? You cannot serve both. Trying to serve the two is incompatible.
So what does money have to do with disciple-making? We only have to look as far as our own checkbooks. We can take a quick look at the ledger and figure out what we prioritize. Does our spending reflect a godly lifestyle? Does our savings communicate good stewardship or greed and selfishness? Does our giving express faith, gratitude, and generosity? The positive elements will be directly associated with the fruit of the Spirit. And those elements that are worldly will be associated with the flesh.
Are we modeling the financial principles God is pleased with? Or are we hesitant to talk about our fiscal status because we know it may be exactly what Jesus is coming off the top ropes on? If we are becoming more like Jesus, we will not only talk about money, we will also practice what we preach.
My Story
As a young single guy my finances consisted of a very easy formula; Give + Pay rent + Buy food + Get a haircut. When Deb and I got married she was shocked to find out I had no savings plan. It was so bad, I didn’t even know how much I had in my account. I figured if I didn’t spend the whole paycheck, I would always have plenty to tide me over. Simple? Yes. Good stewardship? Not so much.
Getting married, having kids and a mortgage changed all of that! Fortunately, I married Charles Schwab the Second. Deb took charge of the finances and I gave her a new formula. Never save more than we give. So that ended up being Give a lot, Save a lot, and Spend a little. We’ve followed this simple formula in lean times and in times of plenty. There have been times where we took one of the boys to the ER and wondered how we were going to pay the bill (God always provided). And there have been times where we had so much it strained our brain to know how to manage it.
We learned these fiscal principles from the Bible. And we have passed them on to the people we disciple.
Give Generously, Save Prudently, and Spend Wisely. Be a good steward of what God has entrusted to you.
Our Action Plan
Now it’s time for application. Here’s some questions and ideas:
- Look at your checkbook or any other ledger with a list of expenditures. What do you see?
- Start giving each month until it starts testing your faith.
- Talk finances with someone you are discipling.
Money is a hot topic. It was in Jesus’ day and it still is today. As disciple makers we need to weigh in as good examples and good advisors. Start teaching good stewardship from the beginning.
Organic Writing – No Artificial Intelligence or Sweeteners Added
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