February 1, 2009 Luke 16:1-13

True Wealth
Jesus also said to his followers, "Once there was a rich man who had a manager to take care of his business. This manager was accused of cheating him. So he called the manager in and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of what you have done with my money, because you can't be my manager any longer' The manager thought to himself, 'What will I do since my master is taking my job away from me? I am not strong enought to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I'll do so that when I lose my job people will welcome me into their homes.' "So the manager called in everyone hwo owed the master money. He asked the first one, 'How much do you owe?' He answered, 'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.' The manager said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write four hundred gallon.' Then the manager asked another one, 'How much do you owe?' He answered, 'One thousand bushels of wheat.' Then the manager said to him, 'Take your bill and write eight hundred bushels.' So, the master praised the dishonest manager for being clever. Yes, wordly people are more clever with their own kind than spiritual people are. "I tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches sot hat when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever. Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot. If you cannot be trusted with wordly riches, then who will trust you with a lot. If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches? And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own? "No servant can serve two masters. The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches." ~Luke 16:1-13~

The parable of the unjust steward! This passage is about wealth...what true wealth really is. When we say wealth, most people would think about money, but that's not what Jesus is pointing out. In the previous passages, there were 3 other parables, each with its own point. This parable is talking about an unjust steward...you and me! Just as the manager is lazy and doesn't wanna do his work, so he steals from the master, we are the same way with God. God has given each one of us our unique talents, but most of the time, we don't use those talents to please God, to do His will, instead we're too busy trying to do things for ourselves...which makes us the unjust steward.

In the parable, the wealth is money, but true wealth for us, believers, is spiritual wealth.
God has given us everything that we "have," not own, because everything in the world, even our lives, aren't ours, it's God's. Everyday, we are so busy to focus on the worldly riches that we forget to build up treasures for later on. In scripture, we are told to build up treasures in heaven...for where our treasure is, there our heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21). It's so hard to think about giving up those things we have for our future, but once we do...once we learn to use those gifts God has given us, not only are we doing ourselves a favor, we are also doing God's will. Jesus says, "make friends for yourselves using worldly riches sot hat when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever," by this, He doesn't mean worldly friends, but spiritual friends who will be awaiting us. We need to be aware of the worldly things, and use them to reach out to those who are still a part of the world. By obeying God, we will please Him, we will be considered His friend, one whom awaits to receive us in the everlasting kingdom.

The second part of the passage mentions those who can or cannot be trusted with worldy riches. This means that those who manage worldly riches can also manage true riches, those who cannot even mannage worldly riches will not be able to manage true riches, therefore will not be given true riches. In other words, doing well here on earth will promote us in the kingdom...if we can make profitable use of our lives that God has given us here on Earth, we will be given eternal life.

Don't forget, life is short...we are only here for a short time...our lives of 70, 80, 90/+ years on Earth, is nothing compared to how long God has been waiting for us, even before creation, so in reality, our lives are really, really short. This means, that we should try even harder to do God's will on Earth, while we are given the opportunity.