Right
on the
Money
By
Pastor Dennis Keating
Wisdom from the Word Ministries
Emmanuel Faith Community Church
639 E. 17th Avenue, Escondido, CA 92025
760-745-2541 • www.efcc.org
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“Right on the Money” is based on a sermon series
at Emmanuel Faith Community Church
by Pastor Dennis Keating in 2007.
This booklet was first published in 2007,
and revised August 2016.
The contents of this booklet are the property of
Emmanuel Faith Community Church.
Copies of this booklet or any portion therein are
permitted if proper attribution is given.
Emmanuel Faith Community Church
Escondido, CA 92025
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Financial Lessons
from a Crooked CPA
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Financial Lessons from a Crooked CPA
If you polled the average church congregation about the
one subject they think their pastor preaches on too often,
many would answer, “Money!” People are really sensitive
about the topic and would rather not talk about it in church.
Yet it’s obvious that God wants us to address this issue of
finances based upon the volume of teaching He’s given us
in our Bibles. He wants us to know His perspective on this
important and relevant subject. That’s the purpose of this
booklet: to help you understand what the Bible says about
handling money.
Let’s begin by explaining one of the most misunderstood
parables that Jesus taught in Luke 16—the Parable of the
Unrighteous Steward. Verse 1 identifies His audience:
“Now He was also saying to the disciples . . .” Jesus gave this
story for the benefit of His disciples or followers. He had a
personal relationship with them and didn’t want them to
be in the dark about this whole topic of proper
financial management.
The People Identified
Two main characters in the story are immediately
introduced. The first is a “rich man” who received income
from renting land to local farmers. In this parable, the
farmers paid their rent with oil and wheat. The second
character is a “manager” hired by the wealthy landowner to
keep track of his businesses.
In biblical times, a manager was far more than an
accountant. This man would have helped oversee the rich
man’s entire estate and was, therefore, in a position that
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demanded high responsibility and trustworthiness. All of
the landowner’s riches were entrusted to this manager’s
care. Jesus built upon this relationship of financial trust to
make His point.
The Problem Confronted
Verse 1 introduces the problem of the manager
“squandering” the rich man’s possessions. He was wasting
and mismanaging the rich man’s business affairs. It didn’t
take long before the rumor mill filtered back bad reports
to the rich man. He was obviously disappointed in the
manager’s stewardship and, according to verse 2, demanded
“an accounting”; the manager was about to be fired!
He might have been financially incompetent, but he
wasn’t dumb. Knowing he was in serious trouble with the
landowner, he began developing a plan to save himself.
Let’s take a look.
The Plan Developed
Since he was about to lose his job, the manager asked
himself, “What should I do since my master is taking the
management away from me?” According to verse 3, he
wasn’t “strong enough” to apply for a job that involved
physical labor. He was too “ashamed” to beg for his living.
His options didn’t seem too promising.
Then a light bulb went on in his head: “I know what
I’ll do. I can work with the people who owe my employer
money so that when I am ‘removed’ from my managerial
position, they will welcome me into their homes.” So he
“summoned” each one of the landowner’s debtors into
his office.
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Here are the specifics of his plan: The manager asked
each debtor how much was owed to the master. The first
person said, “100 measures of oil.” That translates to 800
gallons of oil—a substantial amount. The manager then
said, “Take your bill and reduce it to 50 measures of oil.”
The debtor was probably overjoyed, thinking that the
manager had clearance to offer this deal. But, in fact, the
manager had just stepped over the line from incompetence
to fraud by cutting the bill in half without authorization to
do so!
Another farmer owed “a hundred measures of wheat.”
The manager told him to “Take your bill, and write a new
one for 80.” Jesus doesn’t explain why one renter got a 50
percent discount, while the other only got 20 percent. The
point is that the manager was planning for his own future.
Look at the situation this way. How would you react if
the loan officer at your bank called you into his office and
said, “The bank president is such a generous woman that
she decided, out of the goodness of her heart, to cut your
mortgage in half. Here’s an official document with her seal
of approval. All you need to do is to sign right here and
you’re all set.” Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to sign the
new loan? The debtors in the parable eagerly signed. Once
they had made their deals, how do you think they felt about
the manager? Both would be positive and maybe even feel a
bit obligated to him. That’s exactly what he wanted them to
feel because he was hoping they would give him a job!
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The Praise Expressed
How do you think the bank president would have reacted
when he found out what the loan officer did? He would
most likely be furious. Notice the rich man’s response in
verse 8. His master flew into a rage, summoned the police,
and had the manager thrown into prison. No, that didn’t
happen. Instead, the landowner praised the unrighteous
manager. This seems like an odd way to react. Was Jesus
condoning sin?
This part of Jesus’ parable has generated all kinds of
questions throughout the ages. People have wondered:
Why would Jesus tell a story that commended a dishonest
manager who acted illegally? Most employers would
have had the employee arrested and prosecuted for fraud.
Was Jesus condoning this type of behavior? The answer
is obviously no! Jesus would never applaud fraudulent
business dealings. Why did he do it, then?
According to verse 8, the landowner praised the crooked
CPA because he “acted shrewdly.” Jesus used the same
word in Matthew 10:16 when He told his disciples to be
“shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” What does
“shrewd” mean? In Luke 12:42, the same word is translated
as “sensible.” When that definition is used in the original
context we learn that the dishonest manager is praised for
acting sensibly in planning for his future, not for acting
dishonestly. He was commended for his ingenuity in
regards to thinking ahead, not for the fraud.
We use the same kind of thinking, occasionally. Have
you ever been amazed at a “clever” crook that got away
with an outlandish scheme? By doing so, we are not saying
that the illegal activity was somehow okay, but are only
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acknowledging the “shrewdness” of the criminal in making
his plan.
This was Jesus’ explanation in verse 8: “For the sons of
this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than
the sons of light.” In other words, when compared to godly
people, dishonest unbelievers tend to be more “clever”
when making plans. Since a high percentage of unbelievers
tend to “rip each other off” with greater regularity, they
tend to be more “shrewd” in their planning. Jesus wants
his followers to be equally shrewd in their planning for the
future so He sets up a procedure to follow.
The Procedure Explained
In verse 9 He explains, “I say to you [the disciples],
make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of
unrighteousness.” You may be wondering, “Does Jesus want
me to buy people off?” He would never ask us to waste our
money on frivolous things simply to try to impress others
or to get them to like us. He wants us to use our money to
influence people! Notice the purpose Jesus gives in
verse 9: “When it [the money] fails, they [the friends who
are influenced by that money] will receive you into the
eternal dwellings.”
Jesus leaves no doubt that some day all our money
will “fail.” It will be gone either by being spent or being
left behind when we die. One way or another, we will be
separated from our worldly wealth. Therefore, we must
be extremely wise or “shrewd” in the way we utilize our
limited resources to influence others to live in “eternal
dwellings.” Let’s sum up the key point of the parable: Jesus’
followers are to use their financial resources for eternal,
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spiritual purposes just as shrewdly as nonbelievers use
theirs for temporary, earthly purposes.
Is this what you are doing with your resources of time,
treasure, and talents? To be “shrewd” biblically, we need to
incorporate two principles into our value system.
The Principles Emphasized
First, we must understand that the way we manage
God’s resources reveals the depth of our commitment
to Him. Faithfulness to God in financial stewardship is
no accident; it doesn’t “just happen” to people. Faithful
stewardship, instead, springs from what a person is in the
depth of his or her being, through the power of the Holy
Spirit, growing to be more like Jesus. It will show in the
way we manage our time, talents, and treasures. If we are
committed to Him, living for the kingdom of heaven, our
faithfulness will show in the big and little things of our life.
Verse 10 says, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is
faithful also in much, and he who is unrighteous in a very
little thing is unrighteous also in much.”
Faithfulness to God will change everything in our lives.
It will influence our everyday actions, such as the way we
eat, drink, drive, talk, and relate to others. In the opposite
way, a lack of dedication will also affect everything we do.
A person cannot hide what he or she is because it will show,
especially in the area of finances. So, if you want to know
what’s really going on inside of yourself, highlighting the
strength of your character and your spiritual commitment,
look at the way you use your money. What do you buy?
Where does your money go? Are you giving to the Lord’s
work? If you’re planning ahead for your future in heaven by
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investing in God’s resources for His Kingdom work, you’re
being shrewd. Jesus will praise you for it!
The second principle is equally challenging: Financial
faithfulness proves our dependability for handling spiritual
resources. Notice verse 11, “Therefore if you have not been
faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust
the true riches to you?”
Think about someone you know well. How do you judge
whether that person is trustworthy for a job involving
finances? You look at the individual’s track record to see
how he or she has managed finances in the past. There
won’t be much confidence in the ability of a person who
has filed bankruptcy, for example. However, if that person
has a good record of paying bills on time and meeting all
financial obligations on time there would be more trust.
That’s what God is telling us in this parable. He looks at
our track record for handling His resources. If we aren’t
trustworthy in handling the worldly wealth we have right
now, how can we expect God to pass along the “true riches”
and the spiritual responsibilities of heaven to us? If we show
ourselves unfit in the way we handle His money, we show
ourselves unfit to handle things of greater importance to
Him. God says this in verse 12, “And if you have not been
faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give
you that which is your own?” How can we profess our
faithfulness with God’s eternal treasure in heaven when we
are not faithful with His temporary treasure (money and
possessions) while upon the earth?
Jesus concluded the parable with this challenge by saying,
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate
the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
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With this principle, Jesus opens a pathway for us to follow
in dealing with our finances.
The Path Outlined
To get from one place to another, you have to take the
right path. Here are three steps to charting the path to your
destination. First, you have to find the right road. Perhaps
you check a map or get directions from a friend. Second,
you have to set your sights on the goal. It doesn’t do any
good to map a freeway to Anaheim when you really want to
go to Palm Springs. And third, you have to open the door
and step out on your path. Every journey begins with the
first step.
Let’s apply this to our stewardship. First, to be a faithful
steward, you must acknowledge that God owns everything.
Scriptures support God’s ownership of everything. David
says in Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and all it
contains. The world, and those who dwell in it.” God owns
everything because He created it all. That includes the
rivers, the mountains, the sky, the animals, and the oceans.
Let’s look at a few areas of God’s ownership:
• The animals—“Every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.” (Psalm 50:10)
• The land of Israel—“The land is Mine.”
(Leviticus 25:23)
• The wealth of all lands—“The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, declares the Lord of Hosts.”
(Haggai 2:8)
• You belong to God—“Behold, all souls are Mine.”
(Ezekiel 18:4)
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We have a tendency to start thinking that all the “stuff”
we have is ours. It’s not. Time and time again, God reminds
us that it all belongs to Him. You will never get on the right
financial pathway until you acknowledge that God owns
everything. Notice that in the parable (v.1) the possessions
never belonged to the manager so he had no right to waste
them! Since we are stewards of God’s resources, they all
belong to Him, not to us and we are not to waste them!
Once we established our path—acknowledging God’s
ownership of everything—we can set our goal. We must
treat our wealth as a trust from God. This is the primary
idea of the word “stewardship” in the parable. It emphasizes
that God has established a relationship of truth with His
children, one in which He entrusts all the possessions of
this world to them. You have a relationship with the Divine
Master to which you must prove faithful!
Do you remember the story of Joseph as a steward
in Potiphar’s house? He was placed in charge of all that
his master possessed. He didn’t own any of it; he simply
managed it for Potiphar (Genesis 39). Even when Joseph was
enticed by Potiphar’s wife, he remained a faithful steward
and refused her advances. Although his faithfulness
earned him a jail sentence, God rewarded him in the long
run by giving him the second highest position in Egypt
under the Pharaoh. He is a great example of what a good
steward should be. Likewise, Joseph’s father, Jacob, was
placed in charge of Laban’s possessions. Jacob didn’t own
Laban’s flocks of sheep and goats; he just managed them for
Laban’s financial gain (Genesis 30:30). God blessed Jacob
with an increase in his own flocks and possessions. Here’s
another example of a trustworthy steward. Abraham’s
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steward, Eliezer, was sent by his master to find a wife for
Isaac, Abraham’s son. Eliezer didn’t own the camel he
rode on or the gold he carried. It all belonged to Abraham,
who entrusted it to Eliezer (Genesis 24). Eliezer faithfully
followed through with Abraham’s request.
All of these men were trustworthy managers. God
expects the same from us. We are given a job to do and
entrusted with the possessions to carry it out. That’s why
Jesus uses the word translated as “steward” whenever He
talked about using God’s possessions. (See Matthew 20:25;
Luke 12:19-21.)
Do you acknowledge that your resources are God’s
possessions? This is so very important because, like the
unrighteous manager, one day you will give an account for
how you managed what God entrusted to you. Just think
about that day. The financial books of God’s possessions
will be called up to God’s throne. You will have to stand
before your Master and explain how you managed His
affairs. He’ll say, “Get your financial books in order and
demonstrate your competence.” Paul tells in Romans 14:12
that no one will be exempt from this evaluation. “Each one
of us will give an account of himself to God.” What kind of
report will you give? Will you stand before Him confidently
or will you cringe at what you must report?
We need to open the door and take the first step toward
being a faithful steward by committing ourselves to using
God’s money to invest in the spiritual opportunities before
us so that they produce eternal dividends. Jesus commands
us to “Be shrewd!” Just like a corrupt CPA looked ahead to
prepare for his future, you need to look ahead to your future
in heaven. Live in the knowledge that one day you will give
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an accounting of your stewardship to God. Don’t squander
your resources on activities that will produce earthly
rewards but use them for the greatest eternal influence for
Him in your corner of the world. That’s thinking ahead!
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