A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on March 22, 2026.
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.”
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God
(Luke 16:1–15).[1]
There is something deeply searching about the teaching of Jesus on money. It has a way of unsettling our assumptions and exposing our loyalties. We may prefer to think of wealth as a neutral tool—something that simply makes life easier. Yet in Scripture, money is never merely material because of what it reveals—what or whom we love, whom we trust, whom we serve.
In this case, Jesus tells a paradoxical parable, a parable of a dishonest steward. I say “paradoxical,” because at first it almost seems as though Jesus commends his dishonesty. But as we look more closely, we find that the Lord is not praising the man’s lack of integrity but his ingenuity, his shrewdness—his foresight in light of his future. Jesus presses this home with a penetrating conclusion: “You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:13). The Greek word translated “money” (mamonas) is an ancient word, transliterated “mammon” in English, and is a one-word summation of all we possess.
As we were created “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever,”[2] so we were made for more than mammon. But the Fall put our sinful flesh at odds with our chief end, rendering us slaves to sin, which includes a sinful view and use of our wealth, whether great or small. When amoral mammon is used to please our sinful nature, it becomes, so to speak, “unrighteous.” This should lead the Christian then to consider not only what we do with what we have been given by God but our motives too. Knowing this, let’s now consider Jesus’s parable.
Putting Wealth to Work
The parable begins with a man who worked as an asset manager for a rich man.Due perhaps to his laziness or lack of integrity, it is discovered that he is “wasting” his master’s wealth. As a point of interest, the verb translated “wasting” in this parable is the same verb translated “squandered” in the prior parable of the prodigal son. In this case the prodigal is not a son wasting his inheritance but a manager wasting his master’s wealth. Facing certain unemployment, and given his lethargy and pride, his only option, in his eyes, is deceit. And so, he devises a plan: He will renegotiate the terms of his master’s loans to the benefit of the borrowers.Jesus provides two examples, one a loan on oil, the other a loan on wheat, which combined result in a loss to the rich man and a savings to the borrowers of between $65,000 to $130,000 in today’s dollars. If there were more loans than these two, which the context seems to infer, then the rich man lost hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars, all to the benefit of the borrowers, and the manager in need of a home.
The irony is, when the rich man finds out, he admires the shrewd moves of his former manager, not for his honesty nor his integrity but for his savvy stealth with worldly wealth. We may imagine him shaking his head in disgust, while thinking, “Well played!” The correlation to real life, Jesus explains to his disciples, is “the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light” (16:8). In other words, unbelievers often display more ingenuity and urgency in securing their temporal future than Christians do in seeking the blessings of eternity.
Therefore, Jesus says, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (16:9). The expression translated “unrighteous wealth” here is perhaps better translated “uncertain, unstable riches.”[3] In other words, worldly wealth is not something to build your life on; it’s not eternal. It may be used here and now but not in heaven (or hell). And if it is not eternal, then what is its highest and best use for the Christian? We should convert temporal resources into eternal relationships.
How contrary this is to our consumer culture, in which the bounty of God’s blessings is seen as an expendable resource to please ourselves. How often do we even consider the eternal destiny of our neighbor, let alone divest a portion of our wealth on their behalf? But Jesus advises a better use of our money: putting it to work for the eternal good of others. Lives touched by our generosity will bear witness in eternity. The dishonest steward acted decisively because he knew the present order was passing away. Jesus calls us to the same urgency—but with a far greater horizon.
Stewards of God’s Blessings
In our passage, Jesus then pivots from parable to principle, saying, “One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much” (Luke 16:10).Our culture may say, “Go big or go home,” but Christian faithfulness is proven in the small things of life. We often imagine that if we had more, we would give more; that if we were wealthy, we would be generous. I’m reminded of a man that kept telling me how much money he was going to give to the church once he got his business started, once he got his family established, once he bought a new house, after he started a new job, and so on. As far as I know, he never gave.Jesus confronts our tendency toward self-deception, teaching us not to look to tomorrow, which doesn’t exist yet, but to be faithful today.
We must not miss this kingdom principle, because our tendency is to look down the road, beyond the mundane responsibilities we have been given. But a significant part of our sanctification is in the small stuff. The story is told of a seminary president whose commendation on graduation day was: “Gentlemen, pay your bills!” Not “preach the gospel” but “pay your bills.”[4] Why? Because not fulfilling financial obligations can tarnish a man’s testimony and compromise his proclamation of the gospel.
This may at first sound trivial, but Jesus says, “If then you have not been faithful with the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” (16:11). In other words, though worldly wealth is neutral, it serves as a test. It is not the ultimate reality; it is a proving ground. The way we handle it reveals whether we are ready for spiritual responsibility.
Reiterating this point, Jesus says, “If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?” To confront and correct our sinful tendency and to have a right view of the riches of eternity, we need to remember that what we possess today is not ours but “another’s.” In the fiftieth psalm, God says,
For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine (Ps. 50:10-12.)
Everything belongs to God. We are stewards, not owners. We manage what He owns.
Stewardship then is not merely about budgeting or giving—it is about recognizing God’s lordship over every dollar, every possession, every opportunity. Should every Christian be giving regularly and faithfully to the ministry of Christ’s church? Absolutely! It’s a spiritual discipline that every, single one of us must develop. (If you’re looking for advice, start with 10% of your income given to the church, and then work your way upward and outward from there). But that’s the low-hanging fruit of our sanctification, Christianity 101. But as we give faithfully, we mature in our understanding of God’s lordship, of our stewardship, of the unadulterated worship of giving to the Lord cheerfully.[5]
When we are not faithful in something as small as tithing to Christ’s church, it should serve as a warning of the condition of our heart, telling of whom we are serving. “No servant can serve two masters,” Jesus explains, “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” (Ps. 16:13). Notice that Jesus does not say we should not serve both. He says we cannot. It is an impossibility.
Mammon—wealth personified—demands allegiance. It promises security, identity, and control. But it is a false master. It cannot satisfy, and it will not share.
But the Lord our God, on the other hand, is the true Master—gracious, generous, worthy of our trust. The issue, then, is not whether we have money, but whether money has us. Are we using wealth as servants of God? Or are we serving wealth as our god? “[C]hoose this day whom you will serve,” Joshua said to Israel. “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Josh. 24:15). One test of whether you and your house are serving the Lord is whether or not you are tithing.
Rich in Christ Alone
As if inserting a case study, Luke introduces the Pharisees as “lovers of money,” who are apparently listening to Jesus’s teaching (Luke 16:14). And they don’t like it; they don’t like it at all. Why? These are after all the religiously devout, the disciplined, the respected conservatives of their culture. Yet, beneath the surface, they are enslaved to wealth, responding to Jesus’s words not with repentance but ridicule. Why? Because his teaching threatens their hidden idol.
But Jesus knows their hearts, responding with poignant precision, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts” (16:15a). Outwardly respectable, inwardly compromised. The world celebrates wealth, success, and self-sufficiency, but God looks at the heart. And when he sees anyone or anything seated upon the throne of our hearts other than himself, he hates it: “For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (16:15b). Abomination is a strong word: that which God hates. And what God hates is when worldly wealth is loved, especially by those who claim to be children of God.
It is, of course, far easier to cast theoretical stones at first-century Pharisees than confront the inclinations of our hearts today. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that we are all, to some degree, entangled with mammon. We are prone to trust in what we can see, to cling to what we can control. But the gospel of Jesus Christ does not teach us merely to do a better job with our money but something of far greater value: Find your riches in Christ!
The Apostle Paul writes, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Here is the ultimate reversal. Christ, eternally rich in glory, became poor—entering our fallen world, bearing our sin, dying our death. He was stripped of everything, even his garments, so that we might receive everything—grace, forgiveness, eternal life. This is the true wealth: to belong to Christ, to be reconciled to God, to inherit the kingdom of God.
And when this grips us—when we see the surpassing worth of Christ—mammon is dethroned. It loses its power. We begin to say, with quiet conviction: I am already rich beyond measure. Why should I cling to lesser things?
You and I were made for more than mammon? Let us then use wealth wisely in light of eternity, stewarding resources faithfully as those accountable to God, resting ultimately in Christ, our true and lasting treasure. Trusting in Christ alone, examine your heart and ask yourself: Am I investing my resources in what will last forever? Am I faithful with what God has entrusted to me today? Is Christ truly my treasure—or merely an addition to it? The call of Christ Jesus is clear and uncompromising: “You cannot serve God and mammon.” And let us thank God this is true! For He offers us something far greater than wealth—Himself. And in Him, we find riches that cannot fade, cannot fail, and cannot be taken away.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
(Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.1.
[3] J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 2 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 152.
[4] Dale Ralph Davis, Luke 14-24: On the Rod to Jerusalem (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2021), 44.
[5] 2 Cor. 9:7
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