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Book: Luke
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Luke 16:11 True Riches
I. The subject is riches.
A. The story begins with a certain rich man.
1. The steward who was in charge of managing his affairs
was accused of wasting his goods. Perhaps he was
embezzling.
2. He called him to give an accounting of his stewardship
for he was going to be fired.
3. The steward found himself in a dilemma, he was not able
to do hard labor, and he was ashamed to beg.
4. He struck upon a crooked scheme, he decided to call in
his masters creditors and to reduce their bills.
a. The first one he cut the bill from one hundred
measures of oil to fifty.
b. The second he cut the bill of one hundred
measures of wheat to eighty.
5. He figured he would use his present position to set
himself up for the future which he knew was coming.
6. Many have difficulty with this story because at this
juncture the lord of the servant commended him for his
wisdom, or shrewdness.
a. He was not commended for his honesty, he was
very dishonest.
b. He was shrewd.
B. In commenting on the story, Jesus said that the children of
this world in their generation, were wiser than the children of
light. How so?
1. You know that your time here on earth is limited, that
one day you are going to die.
2. So many of you are making absolutely no provision for
the eternal future.
3. Some of you who are well off here on earth, are going
to be paupers in heaven.
a. Let us say that for fifty years you have been
squandering your riches on yourself, doing very
little for the kingdom of heaven.
b. You will then spend your eternity destitute.
c. Now let me quickly assure you that the poorest
man in the kingdom of heaven is far better off
than the richest man in hell.
C. The moral of this story, spoken to the disciples. They were the
stewards to whom God was going to entrust His goods. They would
be responsible to use them wisely. As a disciple of Jesus
Christ, He has entrusted you with His goods, everything you
have has come from Him, you are responsible for how you spend
His money.
1. God will one day call on you to give an accounting.
2. If you are wise, you will take the opportunity that you
have now to set yourself up for eternity.
II. The application to the story. Make use of the unrighteousness of
mammon or money, for Mammon was the god of money. That when you fail,
they might receive you into the everlasting habitations.
A. Basically Jesus is saying that the dollar is not the currency
of heaven.
1. A very strange experience is to be in a foreign country
and be very hungry, and have nothing but dollar bills
in your pocket.
2. The restaurants in so many cities will not take
American dollars. They want schillings or whatever
currency they use in that country.
3. You may have a thousand dollars in your pocket, but you
cannot buy a sandwich because the dollar is not current
there.
B. Gold is not the currency of heaven, they use it for asphalt up
there.
1. In order to buy goods in a foreign country you must go
to the bank and exchange your dollars for that which
is current in that land.
2. When traveling to a foreign country if I am going to
arrive on the week-end when the banks are closed, I
seek to exchange some money here before I leave, lest
I get in the country and find I cannot get a loaf of
bread or a glass of milk until the banks are opened.
C. When you arrive in heaven, you will find that there are no
exchange banks there.
1. Your only opportunity to exchange for heavenly
currency is now.
2. If you wait until you arrive at the gate of heaven
you will be too late.
III. Jesus then said, "If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous
mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches."
A. Jesus seems to be drawing a contrast between true riches and
false riches.
1. The false riches are the riches of this world, that
are measured in bank accounts and material
possessions.
2. I read of a prospector who was searching for gold in
the Panamint range of the Mojave desert. He was
evidently trying to walk out in that desert heat
carrying two heavy bags. The exertion of trying to
carry the heavy load was too much and he was overcome
with heat prostration and dehydration. Realizing that
he was about to die, he scribbled his last words on a
piece of paper that was found clutched in his hand.
It read, "I died rich." They opened that bags that he
had been carrying and found them filled with iron
pyrite or fools gold.
3. Some of you may think that you are going to die rich,
but you are deceiving yourself, you will be an eternal
pauper. The riches you possess are false riches.
B. The true riches are the eternal riches.
1. Jesus told us not to lay up for ourselves treasure on
earth, where moths and rust can decay and thieves can
break in and steal, material riches are not true
riches, but lay up treasure in heaven.
2. True riches are not measured by how much you have in
your account in the local bank, but how much have you
deposited in your heavenly bank account?
3. God has an interesting way of accounting your
deposits, it is not how much the deposit was, but how
much did it cost you.
a. Remember the story of Jesus standing with His
disciples and watching the people put their
money in the Temple offering receptacles.
b. The rich were coming by and with great pomp
and ceremony were dropping in their large
contributions.
c. A little widow passed by and dropped in a
mite, which is less than a penny. Jesus
turned to His disciples and declared that
she had given more than the rest of them,
for they were casting in of their surplus, but
she was giving of her livelihood, for that was
all that she had.
4. James said,
JAM 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor
of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which
he hath promised to them that love him?
5. The church of Laodicea was saying of itself, we are
rich, we are increased with goods, we have need of
nothing, but Jesus said to them that they did not
know that they were wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked:
REV 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
IV. The bottom line is, "You cannot serve God and mammon".
A. No man can serve two masters. The key word is serve.
1. Your loyalties will be drawn ultimately to one or the
other.
2. There will come a time when you will have to make your
choice between serving God or serving mammon.
3. There are many people who have been turned to God by
their riches, and many who have turned from God
because of their riches.
4. Money is not evil, it is amoral.
a. It is the love of money which is the root of
all evil.
b. Once you have submitted yourself to by ruled
by your riches, you have embarked on a life
of misery, because you will never have enough.
c. Paul said, "Godliness with contentment is
great riches."
d. Contentment, that is the missing ingredient
for all who have allowed money to master their
lives.
B. Luke tells us that there were some Pharisee's who were covetous
who heard what Jesus was saying to His disciples and they
derided Him.
1. You do not know how hard it is for me to teach you this
lesson today.
2. I believe that it is a shame and disgrace to our Lord
the way some people beg and plead for money for the
work of the kingdom. So many times it is not the
kingdom of God that they are interested in, but their
own kingdom.
3. I am paranoid about talking about money in church
because of the horrible abuses.
4. I have what psychologists would classify as an
approach avoidance conflict.
a. I know it is necessary for me to teach you the
whole counsel of God, that is why I go through
the whole Bible.
b. I hate to teach on the subject of money
because it has been so abused.
5. I feel accountable for you, God has called me to teach
you His word, one day I will have to give an account
of my stewardship to Him.
a. I do not want you to arrive in heaven as a
spiritual pauper, and turn to me and say,
"Why did you not tell us these things teacher."
b. I do not want you giving me dirty looks
throughout eternity, thus I have told you. You
can do with it what you wish.
c. When we get to heaven, I want you to smile
when you see me.
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