This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Luke sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 27, 1989.

Alright, let’s respond. Terrible is dead, and then Jesus explained it. With regard to the transition, we move from that 15th to the 16th chapter. It is very important for us to remember the point of the three terribles given up in that 15th chapter. Jesus is addressing himself to the scribes in Pharisee, verse 2, chapter 15.

He tells them, there is joy in heaven when the locks are sound. And what the Pharisee has scribed lacks is them. is the perspective of heaven with regard to that which is lost. There is joy in heaven when the lost are found, but the Pharisees and scribes cannot enter into that joy because they do not have the perspective of glory. They do not have the perspective of heaven. Joy is lost to them, and as it is made plain in the ministry of Jesus Christ, and asserted by that ministry, they then become very defensive, and react against his ministry and his message, and countermand the joy that is imbued in them.

It would be very easy for me to slide off here into a footnote on the 15th chapter of the book, but I’ll just make the comment and leave it there. The various beliefs and parables in that chapter are treated as if Jesus in them were dealing with the issue of evangelism. evangelizing rose who have never except heard or are outside of the parameters of the covenant. That’s not the point of the parables. The parables are not about evangelism. The parables are about your discipline. The parables are about those that wandered outside of the folk. They were in the folk. They were part of the family. The coin was in the house. The sheep belonged to the flock.

The issue is not evangelism. The issue These parables are about Jesus’ message of church discipline. He is a pursuing pastor. When someone wanders, he goes after them to bring them back, and when that person is restored, there is to be sure in the receiving back of that person. and the judgment now that he’s read out upon the Pharisees is this, when those who have wandered away, who have since turned their back upon the covenant into which they were born, with ease return, the scribes and Pharisees find themselves incapable of joy. Now, I know this is new to me. Surprise!

One of the most famous parables of all, the parable of the prodigal son, is not about evangelism. It’s about church discipline. Well, that has been said. and really an indictment upon the Church. This is not to speak with regard to the success of the Church in its pursuit, but oftentimes the Church has given up the pursuit. It won’t go after the individual. The Church does send you a letter after the fact. It tells you what it has done. It doesn’t pursue you. like the shepherds of this passage.

Jesus, after he gives these parables in Luke 15, turns to his disciples after six days. He tells this specific parable, that of the unrighteous stewards, as a warning to them what in those previous parables makes the warning he gives by root of this parable? Now, chapter 16, what in those previous parables makes the warning he now gives? Jesus is saying that what the scribes and Pharisees lack, the disciples are liable to lose. He is saying that what the and scribes lack, his disciples are liable to lose. Having known the perspective of heaven, having known the joy of heaven, the disciples, while yet in this world, are prone to forget their heavenly orientation in order to reap immediate but temporal benefits.

Think of it! if the disciples were to read themselves into the story of the prodigal son. We’ve returned, and now we are enjoying banquets. The best rose rings for our fingers, and we interpret these signs of prosperity and security as indications of divine favor and as ends in themselves. We, in having been restored, now receive these things that we chalk up as indicators of divine favor and as ends in themselves. The temptation, then, for the disciples is precisely this. They will forget their heavenly orientation in order to reap immediate but temporal benefits.

Thus, the parable of the unrighteous steward. This parable is for the purpose of illustrating one point. in it, foregoes immediate riches in order to secure later prosperity. He foregoes immediate riches in order to secure later prosperity. You see, when the steward goes out to those who are in debt to his ministry, and tells them, implores them to pay their bills, he’s not robbing his master by his action, and that’s clear from the master’s reaction. Instead, what the unrighteous steward is doing is forfeiting his own profit and commission that Jesus calls him the unrighteous steward in verse 8 is no reflection upon his collection methods, but upon the fact that he was squandering his master’s estate that mentioned in verse 10. The reason, then, why the steward forgoes his rightful prophet, the prophet that he was entitled to, is so that his newly acquired friend, he’s made friends with these people now, his newly acquired friend will be beholden to him and provide him a place to live when he’s out of work. got it see what he’s done he’s a shrewd fellow his master is absolutely right a shrewd fellow yes not strong enough today just too proud today but a very shrewd man Well, here you are. The intent of the parable is to illustrate this single point that the steward forgoes immediate riches in order to secure for himself a future prosperity. or needs a place to live.

Well, what about, then, the second issue that we raise? Namely, this parable, as Jesus presents it to us, and the fact that he is holding out the actions of this man as a pattern for our own actions. How can the actions of this man, this unrighteous steward, be of benefit to the saints, to the disciples of Jesus? Well, Jesus isn’t telling this parable to suggest that God is pleased with or rewards the shrewdness of the sons of his age, but to commend to his disciples the pattern that is perceived in the activity of this steward, that pattern being one of temporal deprivation. in order that there may be the securing of long-term blessings. That’s the goal. Now we are in position to go ahead and deal with Jesus’ interpretation, verses 9-13.

We are in position to take up the problem that that interpretation presents to us, namely this, what friends are there to be gained for the saints through the mammon of unrighteousness? You see, it is by our stewardship of the things of this earth that we make friends who will greet us It is by our stewardship of the unrighteous man in this world that we make friends who will greet us in heaven. that is imperative for the disciples of Jesus is maintained here. The joy in heaven that spread out in the fifteenth chapter is again now prominent and prominently placed before the disciples. It is by our stewardship of the unrighteous mammoth of this earth that we make friends who will greet us in heaven. As the angels of God rejoice when the lost are found, so there are those. Angels and saints in glory feel to us as friends when we handle rightly the mammon of unrighteousness, the mammon of this world.

Now, there is an outstanding question. The remaining question is, how do we use the moment of enlightenment? How do we do it? In such a way that the end that Jesus has in view here in this passage is true for us, certainly for us. Well, first of all, according to Jesus’ own words, the mammon of unrighteousness is rightly used when we understand the It is an old adage.

You can’t take it with you. It is not what life is all about. The making of money is not what life is all about. We must feel it. whether we are living now or in another day yet future, or in any day past. The mammon of unrighteousness fails. It is not eternal. All that it can ever be, then, is something that is managed within our stewardship before God, a means by which we express our love for Him and those things which are eternal, never an end in itself. Secondly, The mammon of unrighteousness is rightly viewed when we are not slaves.

This is increasingly difficult for the Christian community. Because, truly, we have come to the point where we measure life in terms of the security of money for the poor. We have been bounced into a hopelessly materialistic world, and we have come to believe that the one thing that is not extendable to us is our wealth, our affluence. the mammon of unrighteousness is rightly used when we are not its slaves for surely we cannot serve God and serve mammon either we are a slave to God or we are a slave to mammon Thirdly, and most importantly, we must realize that famine of this world is rightly used when it is handled according to the pattern illustrated in the parable. When the pattern for our lives corresponds to what we find here, namely, we are going that immediate personal enrichment in order to place ourselves at the disposal of the wealth, the glory, the treasures, and the riches of life. And truly, in the final analysis, as we have said, the success of Matthew 6 is no different here. The route by which this is accomplished in our lives is the root of the process. We give. We give up.

We expend ourselves because we are certain that there are unfulfilled riches for us. and there is an innumerable host of friends gained for us through our stewardship of the manner of this world. Well, the parable of the unrighteous steward who has held out a tavern for us in our whole lives to forego a profit for the prospect a friend came who could be counted on later.

We ourselves But unlike him, rather than being welcomed into earthly evolution, we are being welcomed into eternal life. Our lives are totally focused on heaven and its sky, and the glorious creation made up We thank you, our God, for the riches of glory made plain to us. May we have the courage to put heaven and itself above all else. that the way of life, the way we see life, would be in fact the way that we want and the way we embrace. Help us, Father, that we are weak, we tremble at the threat of loss, even at the prospect of insecurities and spoils that may have been too large, we are not irresponsible with regard to the mammon of unrighteousness. To the end, we may be made responsible for the riches of heaven. Lest we pray

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