After the Homecoming Celebration – Use what is Temporary to Love People into What is Eternal
Luke 16:1-9
This week’s message from our guest speaker Han Chung, comes from Luke 16:1-9, which is about the parable of the shrewd manager. This parable is much less known compared to the others shared in Luke 15, but it raises an important point: how should we live this life while awaiting eternity?
The short answer Jesus gives us is to make friends.
The parable reminds us that in this world and in this life, God gives to us in abundance. However, in the parable, we are reminded that we are but accountants and managers of God’s resources, and God is the master. The manager in this parable is being dismissed from managing the master’s finances. Before he is terminated, the manager uses God’s resources in his final days to not only build relationships, but to use what is temporary to love people into what is eternal.
There are three main sub-points to the parable:
What Jesus commands (surprisingly) – at first it seems strange for the master to praise the shrewd manager for what looks like fraud. The word used to describe the manager is phronimos which translates to shrewd but also wisdom that sees reality clearly and acts decisively. The manager demonstrates phronimos by accepting the reality, having a desire for a better future, and taking a decisive turn. The manager accepts his inevitable firing. Instead of collecting his remaining commission, he uses his time and resources to reduce the debts of others, lets go, and dives into his future relationship with debtors. For us, we may make relatively short-term to long-term plans in this lifetime, but are we also making plans for eternity?
What Jesus corrects (gently) – Biblical repentance is faith expressing itself as a change of mind which results in a change of direction. God graciously and gladly embraces such steps of faith. Even as we are imperfect, God receives us in our sincere repentance. If we believe in eternity, why do we still live our life as if this life is all there is? The master praises the shrewd manager who turned self-gratification into uplifting others, who focused on the future rather than the present, and who used what he had remaining to bless others.
What Jesus commands (gracefully) – Jesus commands us in verse 9, to “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” The lesson learned from the parable is to remind us that the life we live is temporary. Han makes the comparison of temporarily camping in this life rather than moving into a permanent home. We are reminded that the material things we work towards like money, wealth, fame, and status are all temporary. However, they are things that God entrusts to us. These things are not in themselves bad. But Jesus commands us to use what is entrusted to us, to use what is temporary to love people into what is eternal. To make friends is to love the way Jesus loves, running towards people as the Father ran towards us, and making kingdom friends through the Spirit given to us.
We are reminded that God graciously provides for us so that we can freely go all in for eternity. We have been made alive and welcomed into the Father’s embrace so that we may now use what is temporary to love people into what is eternal – together.
Reflection Questions:
What were your main takeaways from this week’s message?
Am I using what is temporary to love people into what is eternal, or am I simply using it to fund my own party and security?
Who is the one specific person that I’ll invest in this week?
