Sunday, September 21st 2025
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Series C (Proper 20)
Text: Luke 16:1–15
Sermon Audio
As we gather… We have before us one of the most confusing parables of Jesus in the entire four Gospels. It would appear as though Jesus is commending fraud in this text. Perhaps this is a parable where we don’t need to sweat the details quite so much. The point of the parable is that the manager leans into the master’s mercy to earn the favor of those around him. As we consider the role of money in our lives and the lives those around us, we need to understand that we can’t take it with us. When we die, we will leave our money behind. Today, let us consider the ways in which we can use money shrewdly for the benefit of the work of God’s Kingdom that will have an eternal impact as the Gospel reaches the lives of those around us.
This parable is perhaps one of the most difficult to interpret of all the stories Jesus tells. Anyone in the business world knows that someone who gets fired gets escorted out of the building with a banker’s box and a security guard escort. The I.T. department deactivates accounts before the former employee arrives home. Otherwise, what might happen is exactly what we read in this parable. This former employee defrauded the Master out of 300 gallons of olive oil and 120 bushels of wheat, which is about $8,000. How would you feel if someone stole $8,000 from you?
Yet “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.” What we learn today: THE MASTER WANTS TO GIVE HIS KINGDOM AWAY TO THE VERY PEOPLE WHO STOLE FROM HIM.
First, I. We steal from the Master. We see this clearly in the parable. It begins, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.” This manager was wasting the possessions of his Master. He wasn’t taking good care of them. What’s more, he goes on to defraud the Master further by lessening the debts owed to the Master from his debtors.
We read in the Bible, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,” All things belong to the Lord. All that is ours is not really ours, it’s just on loan from the Heavenly Father. Luther summarizes it well when he explains the work of our Heavenly Father in the first article of the creed, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have.”
We rob God by not taking good care of the gifts God loans to us. We read in Malachi, “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.” By treating our money and riches as our own, we rob God.
In the Old Testament, the Lord required His people to give ten percent of their income to the work of the Church. In the New Testament, we are freed to give more than 10% of our income out of the generosity of our hearts. To be certain, there are many generous givers here, but for how many of us is giving an afterthought? We’ll give if we remember to write a check running out the door on Sunday. We’ll give eventually, but we didn’t like what the pastor said last month. We’ll give someday, but have you seen how much my tuition, student loans, or rent cost? Maybe I’ll pay those off before I can chip in.
This spirit of scarcity goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because they thought that the Lord was holding back on them. They felt like they needed to look out for number one. They wanted to be like God, knowing good and evil. The word “Mine” goes hand in hand with our sinful condition.
And so we want to snatch from God what we don’t realize He’s already ready to give. We want to be self-righteous. We need no god, we’re quite alright by ourselves. We need no forgiveness, what’s there to forgive, plus I’m doing quite alright by myself. We try to steal from God what never belonged to us.
However, THE MASTER WANTS TO GIVE HIS KINGDOM AWAY TO THE VERY PEOPLE WHO STOLE FROM HIM. Our second point, II. The Master gives away what is His. The master could have instantly put a stop to the manager’s shenanigans. He could have locked him away immediately. Yet he gives the manager a long leash. He lets him give away the master’s wealth.
Because, so what? The Master is wealthy and if His debtors think he’s generous, is that really so bad? Is it really so bad that the debtors consider Him a forgiving and kind owner? Absolutely not.
“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.” Our Master sent His Son to this world to become nothing for us. His Son Jesus gave up everything living the life of a peasant even though He was a king. He suffered the pains of our sins even though He was sinless. On the cross He endured the mockery and shame that we deserved.
Yet because of Christ’s mercy, our debts were not marked down from 100 to 80 or 100 to 50, but from owing 100 to receiving 100. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” We have been made spiritually rich through the abundance of Christ’s sufferings, and all that we sought to rob from God, He gladly and freely surrenders so that we can be part of His family.
Through faith in Christ, we have received from God His holiness, His righteousness, His eternal life, and His godliness. Because we are reconciled with God, He is happy to give us everything we need to support this body and life. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Our Heavenly Father doesn’t just give His people a wink and lets them know it’ll be okay in the life to come. He gives manna in the wilderness. Not only that, He added quail to give them something tasty. He multiplied the oil and flour for the Widow of Zarepath and her son that they ate for days in a famine.
The first of Jesus’ miracles were to give good wine to people who had been partying for days. He instructed the first disciples to let down their nets and so many fish were in the net that the net almost broke. He multiplied fish and loaves and there were leftovers, more than the five loaves and two fish that they started with! You cannot outgive God who knows your needs before you ask them.
“What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord,” The Lord wants you to take from Him. He wants you to take His gifts of salvation as you remember your baptism by living a life of repentance. He wants you to take His Word as you listen to it in Church and read it privately. He wants you to take the cup of salvation by partaking of Christ’s body and blood at this altar for your forgiveness. If you have not yet been admitted to the altar, enroll in a new member class to get to that point!
Therefore, III. We use the Master’s property to further His kingdom. God is happy to forgive us for our hard hearts and our lack of generosity. You are not saved by the percent of your income that you put into the offering plate or by how many Sundays you have attended Church. It is by grace you have been saved.
But what we do in this life matters for the welfare of our neighbor. Jesus is inviting us to learn from this parable that money can be a wonderful tool in advancing the kingdom. “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.” The money you have will not help you when you die. However, the people that you meet will live eternally. As we use our money to support ministries that seek to reach people with the eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ, the souls we impact will not only be helped in this life but will be helped in the life to come.
We can emulate the shrewd manager, not in committing fraud, but using what God has given us cleverly to the glory of His Kingdom. This comes with the balancing act of not worshipping money on one hand, but on the other, not talking about it shamefully like we might talk about our underwear.
God is calling us to make a plan while also banking on His mercy and generosity. The shrewd manager made a plan and put all his chips in on the Master showing kindness and generosity to him. For many of you, God has been generous to you throughout your careers. We have a special guest, Craig Toerpe from the LCMS Foundation, who will be presenting after worship during Bible study on ways you can be wise in how you give. There are ways to maximize giving by legally minimizing tax burden. By estate planning, we can make a plan to give a portion back to the work of the Church after we are received into eternal dwellings.
Maybe we’re not at a stage of life where some of these advanced techniques apply to us. Part of the big picture of managing our money for God’s purposes is starting young. ““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.” Yes, even college students can get in the habit of giving a portion of their income to the work of the church. If you only make $10 a week, you can give a dollar a week to church. Many colleges offer financial literacy courses to help college students set money goals and make a budget. One can find personal finance classes such as Dave Ramsey’s financial peace university offered locally to help people of all ages handle money wisely. Having one’s financial house in order frees people to give generously and impactfully to the work of the Gospel.
No matter what stage of life you’re in you can rejoice that you have a generous God who has given His Son Jesus to die for your sins. As a result, you can make a plan for the gifts God has so graciously given to you to help spread the word of the Gospel to our communities so that as many as possible may join us in the eternal dwellings. Amen.