All right, very good. Luke in chapter 16 tonight as we finally carry on in the book of Luke after we've had a few Sunday nights that were a bit different. We're gonna read the first 13 verses this evening, the parable or the account of the unjust steward. If you will stand with me as we read this account together this evening. It says this, So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, And a hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, And a hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write four score. And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fell, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous man, then who will commit to your trust true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? Father, we thank you for this night you've given us. Thank you for your word, Lord. I ask now that you would help me to articulate only those things that you would have. Lead me through the Holy Spirit and speak to each one of us likewise through the Holy Spirit. Help us to take that which you have, Lord God, and use it according to your will. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, I can't help but see a lot of parallels between the passage tonight and the passage from this morning, and I'm sure you'll see them as we work through the text, but again, this was not pre-planned. We've been working through these two passages, these two books separately in a different pace, and God, for the last two times, I've preached out of Isaiah, and then Luke has seemed to overlap them and doing so again today. So as we look at this passage, though, break it down, I guess, in a somewhat simple way, and the first thing I want you to see is the audience. We look at the audience and the audience is immediate clear at the beginning of verse 1 and it says, He was speaking to his disciples. These were the ones who would be followers of him. The Greek word is mathetes, which is a pupil or a learner or a student. It's those people who were saved and they wanted to be like Jesus Christ. And so those who were following him, who wanted to be like him, he is speaking to those. Certainly there is a crowd following him at this time and he had the opportunity to and did often speak to the masses. In verse 14, it appears that they were present. It says, and the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all of these things. So it seems like they were there. They were in earshot, perhaps. They were paying attention. They heard what he said, but Christ isn't speaking to them. He's talking to his followers. And so we would understand that he's speaking to the 12 apostles, he's speaking to all those who want to learn from him, but he's speaking to us. Jesus is talking to his disciples, and if you are saved today and you're wanting to follow him, you are his disciple. Now, though we are not there in person, his words are recorded for us to learn from. And so there's application to us. There's application to those who reject him for sure, but the application primarily is to those who are his followers. And so we see the audience first. The audience is us, those who wanna follow Jesus. The second thing we see is the illustration. The illustration that Jesus gives is about a steward who is felling at his job. He's been acting as this steward for a while, in whatever capacity that is, I don't know, but a steward is one who handles another person's affairs, or another person's finances, or another person's goods, and they have a standard of care with which they are to operate. And so this man, he's been on the job for a while now, and it's been long enough for other people to see him in his position. And someone has been observing him and goes to the rich man or to the boss, if you will. And he says, look, this steward over here, he's wasting your stuff. And we don't know if this was intentional or if it was an act of ignorance. It really doesn't tell us. It just tells us that he was wasting stuff. But the steward, we know, is not doing right. And the rich man now, he in turn calls for the steward. He says, hey, we need to have a talk. The steward goes in and he says, look, it's time for you to give an account of yourself. And if it works out the way that it seems like it might work out, you may find yourself without a job. The steward, perhaps because he knew his acts were intentional, or perhaps he found out upon examination that he was felling, he saw that he was likely going to lose his job. Right? He becomes concerned about it. In verse 3 it says, He saw that he was going to lose it, right? He's examining his job now, and again, either he's like, man, I was a fraud, I was embezzling, and I'm about to be found out, or He was like, wow, I've looked back through the receipts and I am a really lame steward. I don't know which it was, but he seems to have come to the conclusion himself after being forced to give an accounting. He's like, well, I got everything together now and yep, that's it. I'm on my way out. And so he seems like he has realized now that the results that he should have had were not what they should have been. And again, maybe it was more serious. Maybe he's gonna be found out for embezzling. This man looks at his options, right? He's looking at his life. He says, I'm about to be fired. I'm about to be canned. I'm about to be out on the street. I don't really have any abilities. He says, I can't dig and I can't beg. I mean, when you think about all of life's choices, that's what he narrowed it down to. He's like, I could be a steward, I could beg, or I could dig, and I'm not doing two of those. I find it very fascinating how he kind of limited his options. And then he says, really, I'm just too lazy to dig. That's hard work. I mean, there doesn't tell us anything, any reason he couldn't dig. He's just like, no, I can't do that. And he's like, and to beg, I'm too proud to do that. And so he wasn't going to do either of those things. So he came up with a conniving plan. Verse four, I am resolved what to do. I figured it out. I got an idea, right? The light bulb came on. I've resolved what to do and I'm put out of the stewardship that they may receive me into their houses. I got a plan so that I'm gonna be accepted. If boss fires me, I got plan B. It's going to be good. I know I'm about to be fired, but before I do, I'm going to get in good with some other people. That way, if he kicks me out, maybe they'll take me in. He's got plan B and C lined up. He goes to some people who owe boss a bunch of stuff, a bunch of wine, a bunch of food. He says, hey, how much do you owe? I owe $100. OK, we'll give $50. How much do you owe? I owe $100. We'll give it $80. And it's kind of like I'm kind of trying to find a way to get in good. And maybe he's even thinking the boss might think this is a savvy enough move. He might even keep me. I can convince him that these bums were never gonna pay anything and if they just pay 50 or 100 man He's in good place and I can convince them that I got the boss to give you a good deal And so you're in a good place. And so he's kind of like I'm gonna get you. I'm gonna get something, right? I mean this guy he's got it worked out He has figured out a way to where he is going to land on his feet and it's gonna be good And so he does, he goes to the debtors, and he settles their debts, and he has them write down their bill and what they owe, and perhaps he has them convinced, well, you'd never be able to pay that, but if you just pay 50, you'll be fine. And they're like, yeah, I could probably come up with 50. If you just pay 80, you'll be good. Oh, yeah, man, I could do that. Let's do this. And then the unexpected happens. The rich man, the boss says, you know, that was pretty smooth. I liked it. I don't know if it's that he thought, well, I could take this sneaky guy and I could do something with him. Or if he thought, you know, well, I wasn't gonna get anything and now I got something. We don't really know what his thoughts were. Again, this is just an illustration. But he saw wisdom in making the burden more palpable perhaps. And he got something when otherwise he may have received nothing. And you read this parable, and without Jesus's explanation, you could kind of be like, what? What am I supposed to learn from this? I can be conniving, I can rip people off, I can do whatever I need to for business purposes. If it wasn't for Jesus's explanations, we may find an excuse to be a lot different type of Christian than what we are. But that's not what we find. Jesus is using this to explain something to us. And so he begins a explanation. And that's the third thing we see. So we have the audience, the illustration, and then we have the explanation. And that begins in verse 9, so let's read verse 9 to verse 13 again real quickly, and it says this, And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fell, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And so within here we see three principles that apply to our lives that Christ is kind of laying out to his disciples. Again, he's talking to us. And the first one is you need to decide where you want to live. You need to decide where you want to live. Do you want to live in the world or do you want to live in God's kingdom? Which do you want? Verse nine again says, The unjust steward understood something very clearly. He understood that his desire to live in a certain way, he understood his desire to live in a certain way and he would do anything to have it. I want to live like this and I will lie, cheat and steal if I have to to get it. If he could have it by pleasing his master, he would do that, and if he could not, he'd find a second route. He wants to live like he wants to live. The steward wanted to maintain a certain lifestyle, a certain status. He is the steward of the rich man. He's got a little bit of sway, perhaps, a little bit of status, a little bit of influence, and he wasn't willing to give that up. He didn't want to be turned over to another lifestyle. He didn't want to have to do manual labor. He didn't want to beg. The only thing he wanted was to live how he was living. And he didn't care what that meant. He didn't care if it meant being legal or illegal, moral or immoral, right or wrong. He just wanted it and he was going to take it and he was going to get it. And so with that in mind, Jesus says to those who want to follow him, seemingly using a form of rhetoric to get his point across, go out and earn friends using the wealth of this world, the mammon of unrighteousness. And when you fell in serving me, they will receive you into their own immoral, unchanging lifestyles. We know that salvation is eternal. You can't lose it, right? And this is clear. The Bible tells us this in multiple ways. If you have called upon the name of Jesus Christ, he has promised you everlasting life. So this is not saying in a sense, if you don't focus on the riches of unrighteousness or the wealth of this world, or if you do focus on the riches of unrighteousness and the wealth of this world, you'll be condemned to hell. That's not what it's saying. That can't be what it's saying because he's speaking to his disciples and we can't lose our salvation. So that is not what it's saying. So when it says make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, the wealth of unrighteousness, the prosperity that you can feel or get from unrighteousness, do that so that you are accepted when you're no longer receiving my help. They will receive you into their habitations. If you want to live like the world, then expect the world to take you in when you're done. And if you don't really want me, just follow them and that'll be fine. Just go to them, live like them, and when you fell, you shouldn't expect me, God is saying, we should not expect Him to help when we just have decided to abandon what He wants. It's like He's telling us, very much like we heard this morning, it's time to make a decision. If it's, not what you want, if you don't want to serve God, why pretend? If you're not a follower of Jesus, then just stop serving him because this is just something you are doing, you're not really committed to it, and when it all comes out, you're not gonna have anywhere to run. Either you are in Christ and living for Christ, and when you fell, Christ will be there to lift you up, right? And that's what we should desire. Jesus Christ is our God, He is our Father, and He has offered us a great life, and He did much good, like the rich man did to the steward, right? Jesus is much better than this rich man. He will never say to you, you're no longer mine, right? He is our God, he's our King, he's our Lord, and he loves you and he is called upon you. And if you accepted him, he is and will always be your God. But he says, if you're mine, but you don't really wanna follow me anymore, he's like, why are you even playing the game? You're not going to, you can't live like the world and expect me to keep just overlooking it. Right, yes, he'll always allow us to repent, he'll always forgive us, he'll always bring us back, but we're not receiving the blessings that we think we should. It's like the just, the steward and the rich man, right? The steward, he's done all of these things, and if he's going to continue to live like that, the rich man says, well, you can't really be receiving my benefits anymore. I'm not going to continue to keep you on the payroll. I'm not going to keep giving you your health insurance and your dental insurance. I'm not going to keep giving you the things that you're expecting. And we know that God loves us, and we know that he's promised us many blessings, and we know that he hears our prayers. But we think about Isaiah 59, 1 and 2. When we're in sin, he's not hearing our prayers. And that's very much akin to what he's saying here. If you're going to live for me, then I have something for you. But if you're not, you might as well live with the world. And so you kind of get this rhetoric understanding. Christ is saying something like, if you're wasting, though I have given you, if you're wasting the life that I have placed in your hands to live for me, then just expect when things get hard, I'm not going to be the one that's lifting you up. You're playing a game. All you care about is what others think and trying to enjoy life in the way that you have it. And so just expect that you're going to have the natural consequences of this world. Jesus is speaking to his followers, calling out a major tendency of many of those who call themselves disciples. Many call upon him for salvation, but often they live as though they are prepared to be left by God, right? So you think about the life we live every day, and we go out and we're enjoying whatever we enjoy, but it's like we're expecting God not to answer our prayers, so we have something we wanna fall back on. I don't know what God's will is for sure, so I am going to live such that if something bad happens, that I'll still be accepted of my friends, I'll still be accepted of this, I'll still have that, and we're building up this kingdom around us, right? Now, retirement's a good thing, and we should save for retirement. But if we're relying on God and God says, abandon the retirement, abandon the retirement, right? It's that kind of retirement understanding, right? Like, I'm glad the church provides a 403B for me. I really appreciate that. If God called me to Africa tomorrow or to Asia tomorrow or somewhere to be a missionary tomorrow, and I could no longer afford to have retirement, but he said, go, what am I gonna rely on? Do I wanna rely on my 403B or do I wanna rely on God? What's our support system? Right, and sometimes it's friends, or sometimes it's whatever, right, we have friends, and I like these friends, these friends accept me. Yeah, they don't really go to my church, and they don't really live like I do, and they don't really have the same moral understanding that I do, and they don't follow God's word, but I know if there's a fight between me and someone at church, this person's got my back. But God says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Why are you relying on that person and not on God? And we do it in way after way in our lives. Again, as we spoke about this morning, maybe it's a job and the job prevents us from attending church and having the family time we need and doing the things that we know that God wants, but we're like, but I need that financial backing. And so we're willing to overlook a little bit of God's word and say, well, I'm firm in my life because I have this financial security, instead of saying, I am firm in God and I'm just gonna trust him to take care of me. And so Jesus says, decide. Do you want friends of the world or do you want to be a friend with me? Do you want to have them when you fell receive you into their everlasting habitations or do you want me to receive you into my everlasting habitation? Do you want the benefits that the world can provide or do you want the benefits that God provides? And so the first question that Jesus brings to mind seems to be calling on us to ask ourselves to determine where we really want to live. Do you wanna live in Jesus, serving Jesus, trusting Him to take care of you, or do you want to live and take care of yourself, relying on the support system that you've created? It's a choice we make. Consciously or not, it's a choice we make to either live for God, trusting Him to care for us, or living more concerned with this present world and trusting that we and the world around us will take care of us. Decide where you want to live. The second thing he gives us is an indication of where we really are. Sometimes we are blind to this. Where am I really in this thing? Am I serving God? Am I relying on God? Am I trusting God the way that I should be? Or am I relying upon myself? There are some people, perhaps many people, probably all of us, that are somewhat blind to who we really are. We certainly know what we want. We have a pretty good idea of things that we like and want. but we don't fully see perhaps ourselves clearly. Think about this Stuart again. He was placed in charge of the financial affairs of a wealthy individual. He seems to have thought he was pretty good at his job until someone observed that he wasn't and called him out. And then he had to do some soul searching. He had to do an accounting. He had to get the books together and figure out, well, am I or not? And he's like, oh, I'm not. He gathered facts to turn into his boss, and though he was seemingly secure for a bit, now he has something that he has to question. He was forced to see life for what it really was. And Jesus takes that and he applies it to us. He says in verse 10, he that is faithful and that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If you wanna know the kind of Christian you are, It's not about what you have acquired materially. It's not about the notoriety you have developed. It's not about how you feel. It's not about opinions or emotions. Rather, what Jesus tells us is if you want to know, if you want a good, clear indication of the type of Christian you are, look at the small stuff. Look at the small stuff. The big picture of our lives is often for show, right? We all paint ourselves pretty on Sunday. We put on our nice clothes, we wear our nice shoes, we do whatever, we put on a smile, we come to church and people see what they see. And we can put on a front, we can have a facade that other people see and that looks pretty good. But if you want to know really who you are and how you are living, Jesus says we need to look at the little details of our lives. If you're a faithful follower, then you'll be faithful in that which is least. Right, and if you're an unfaithful follower, you're gonna be unfaithful in that which is least. Think about a house. I mean, think about a builder of a house. I think about Brother Brett and building, you know, nice houses. and you go into a house, you're looking at a house, whatever, you're gonna buy a house, you walk into a house, and you see the things that are painted up, right? You think about those who flip houses. They do it as quick and cheap as possible. They slap a coat of paint on everything, maybe put a new layer of floor down, and they make it all look good, right? And so you walk in, you look around, and you're like, man, that looks good, and that looks good, and the water runs, and I don't see too many cracks. It's pretty good. But when you buy it and you live in it for a while, and all of a sudden the drywall starts separating after a couple weeks, you might realize that, ooh, they may have done a shoddy job. You turn on the water and the drain starts backing up, right? The hot water only runs for about three minutes. Although you had it hot for one minute when you checked it, you didn't let it run for a while, right? And it's all these little things. The electricity works, the lights come on, but now I plug in something and it shorts out the toaster. And there's all of these things. It looks good from the outside, but when you start getting down to the nitty-gritty, you're like, this house is a piece of junk. And the outside still mainly looks pretty good, but you start to learn the details and you're like, ooh, I got scammed. Or you're like, ooh, I got a good house. Right? The details, the small things tell us something about what the house really is. And that's exactly what Christ is indicating here. As Christians, yeah, we may be saved and we may have been baptized for all the world to see and we may sing in the choir or teach a Sunday school class or whatever the case may be, but that doesn't mean you're a good Christian. He says, look at the small things. Look at the little things. Christ calls you to be holy. Not to be partially holy. Not to be holy in the big things. Be holy as I am holy. Be holy in all manner of conversation. It's the details. Christians can look pretty good from the outside, and in fact, often the small things are not even perceptible by others. I don't know what your little things are. I don't know if they're right or wrong. You know, those closest to you might, your husband might, your wife might, your children might, right? Others around you might see it, but if you wanna know, are you following after the mammon of this world, or if you're following after the goodness of God, check the little things. Mentioned it this morning, children, obeying your parents, honoring your parents, right? You may come to church and everybody's like, oh, that's a good teenager, that's a good kid. You know, how do you talk to your mom and dad? It's a little thing, right? It's a little thing that other people may not see, but you know. Stealing, I think about this, you know, we read Thou Shalt Not Steal, and we think about it, you know, I don't go into the store and steal TVs. But I've mentioned it before, and I say it again here tonight, if you're at work all day for eight hours, and you spend two hours on your phone searching social media, you're stealing. That's your boss, you're taking his money, you're taking his income. Whatever the case may be, sometimes we're stealing time from our families. Dad, mom, you're on your phone, scrolling your phone for two hours a night and you should be spending time with your kids, you're stealing time from your kids. You are to raise them to train them. We can steal and not really even realize that we are to be stewards in the big things and the little things. Being kind, I know I harp on this all the time. It's probably because I've got four kids. I think it's the verse I quote most is Ephesians 4.32, and I can't tell you how many times I say it a day. What's the Bible say, Sam? What's the Bible say, Ray? What's the Bible say, child whose name I'm not allowed to mention in here? Nan, Nan, what's the Bible say? Hey, what's the Bible say, Dan Dan? I asked him to quote any verse in Lowe's. So we're at Lowe's the other day, me and Dan Dan, and we are going through the store and I'm walking in and he's like, I want some tracks. So I go back to the track and I gave him a stack of like three or four tracks. The little man is a, he's gonna make a great preacher. Like we walked up to everybody, he's like, Corner Baptist Church? And like, they ignored him and he's like pulling their pant leg, like, Corner Baptist Church. And they're like, oh, sorry, took it, took it. And so we ran into this. I think the second track, maybe the first track, I don't know. I'm on the electric aisle looking for something for the house. And there's this guy standing there. And he's like, I invite you to Corner Baptist Church. And the guy's like, oh, thanks, buddy. And he goes to First Colony, I think he said. Anyway, and he's like, can you say any verses? And Dan says, and be kind. I'm like. Good job, buddy. I might say that a time or two. So anyway, it's a little thing, though, isn't it? It's hard to do, especially all the time. So I'm always telling my kids, you need to be kind. But he, show me in there where the exception is. Be kind one to another, unless your little brother punches you in the face. No, you still got to be kind, even if he punches you in the face. And Sam, you got to be kind and not punch her in the face. But she said this to me, okay, Sam, you still have to be kind and not worry about what she said. Look, it's a command to me, right? That command to be kind is to me. It's this guy, I am to be kind. And I struggle with it, we all struggle with it. We gotta focus on it, it's a little thing. But just look at yourself, look at your kindness. I love the one preferring one another. That's one we all struggle with, Romans 12 10. We are to prefer one another and to put you before me. That goes right back to the coveting that we talked about this morning, right? They go hand in hand. I can't prefer someone else if I'm coveting for myself. The thoughts we have, I love Philippians 4.8, really kind of digs down and lets us know how we may be focused on the wrong things. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Is that what your thought life's like? Are you like, punk, get out of my way, right? Going back to this verse sometimes when I'm driving and I'm like, ooh, did it again. I struggle with it, I imagine many of us do. But we need to be working on it. The friends and relationships that we have, the little things, the finances as we find in this text. Stewarding what God gave you, the very finances he gave you. Are you using him for his glory and his honor? Are you tithing? Are you giving to the missions program of the church? Are you using it to take care of the things you need to? Are you handling your money in a right way? The little things. There's no detail of your life that is so trivial that God does not care about it. Rather, in Colossians 3, 23 to 25, he says this, and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive the wrong for which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. Is that not what he's telling us when he says, he that is faithful in the least is faithful also in much, and he which is unjust in the least is also unjust in much? Where are you really? Are you faithfully serving Him in all things? Or are you not? The final thing we see is this, if you want more, be more faithful. If you want more, be more faithful. Again, it's interesting very much to me how much detail is in common with Isaiah 64 that we studied this morning. Look at verses 11 and 12. It says, Now what did it say this morning in Isaiah 64.4? It says that what God has prepared for you. Here it says that which is your own. It's an indication of a very similar thing, right? True riches, riches that are your own, riches that God has created for you, they should belong to you, but you haven't done exactly what God wants for you to realize it. And so he says if you want it, what do you have to do? You have to be faithful in that which is least. You have to be faithful in all things. You have to be faithful in the unrighteous mammon, Right? Because if we're not unfaithful in the unrighteous mammon, he says, who's going to commit anything else to you? God's given you that job, the unrighteous mammon. God's given you that money. Are you handling the unrighteous mammon in the way he wants? If not, you're not going to understand the true riches that he has for your life. If you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? If God can't trust you, why is he going to give you the things that he has created for you? Because there's a good chance you're gonna take them and you're going to mismanage them as you've been mismanaging those things which he has already given to you. The indication is that God has something for you. Something termed riches, something that is precious and good, something that he says is yours, but only when you have demonstrated to him that you're ready for it. God is ready and willing to bless. And we may not know or understand the things that he has prepared for us, but they are good. and they're meant to be yours, but God will not give them to those who are not faithful to him first. So God ends the discussion with this, verse 13. You can't have it both ways, right? You can't live in the world and in Christ. Yeah, I mean, technically we're in the world, right? We're not of the world. We are servants of Christ. I think about what God says in Isaiah 42a. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another. What's he tell us in Genesis? His name is jealous. Right, he wants you and he will not share you. He expects you to serve him. If you've accepted the blood of Jesus Christ to cover your sins, he wants you to live for him. And as he takes you into his family, he becomes your father, and he says, I got blessings, and they're good for you, and they're meant for you, just like we see in Isaiah 64, and like we see in Luke 16 here tonight. God has some things for you that are prepared for you, a life that is meant to be a special blessing to you, and it is meant to lift you up and to help you, and he is meant to be our rest, and our joy, and our satisfaction, and everything good in this world. That's who God is to be to us. But while God created them for us, It's for those who serve Him. You can't have it both ways. You can serve the world, but if you do, expect your blessings and your pleasures to be only the blessings and pleasures that the world can afford, which isn't that deep or lasting. They're temporal, they're fleeting, they fade away. But if you will serve God, He will give you true riches, those things which He has specifically prepared for you. Lasting benefits. But the choice is one of free will. You can't serve two masters, you must choose. Will you serve God? Or are you just gonna see what you can get on your own? That's the choice tonight. I ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes this evening. A simple message.