Sermon - Trinity IX, 2026 - Luke 16:1-13

The Parable of the Unjust Steward, Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1540

Christian Wisdom Seeks Eternal Dwellings

1. Wisdom is forward thinking and focused on the goal

2. Christian wisdom employs every treasure, heavenly and worldly, for the sake of reaching the goal

If there is a hardest parable, it might be this one; throws people off every time. The parable presents a rich man with a steward who was found wasting the rich man’s possessions. The job of a steward is to be faithful with someone else’s possessions, and this guy wasn’t cutting it. So obviously, he got fired. What’s crazy is the rich man lets the steward hand in the books, and he doesn’t hunt them down and take them from him immediately.

The steward does exactly what you don’t want the steward to do, which is why normally the books get taken from the steward: the steward cooks the books. He meets some of the rich man’s debtors, probably tenant farmers, and in order to ingratiate himself with the debtors he adjusts how much they owe, so that the debtors love the steward and the rich man for being so gracious. Now when the rich man fires the steward, the debtors will love the steward and hate the rich man, and care for the steward. He used his bosses money to make himself allies and friends. Very clever. Very evil. And yet the parable concludes: “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.”

But you must note that the dishonest manager isn’t being commended for his dishonesty or any of his evil behaviors, rather he is being commended for his shrewdness, his prudence, his wisdom. That commendation towards wisdom is what this parable is about. The parables are not one to one correlations, so you can’t read the parables as perfect analogies. This parable especially is comparing the worldly to the christian, and showing that the worldly use wisdom to reach their worldly goals, and Christians should likewise use wisdom but to reach heavenly goals. “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.”

This parable is really just a basic example of how the world operates all the time. Worldly people have worldly goals, and they wisely use whatever means at their disposal to help them meet those goals. This may mean that they lie, cheat, and steal to get their way. But at the end of the day, they have acquired what they wanted and they didn’t let anything stand in their way. If they want their business to succeed, they may employ some shady practices in order to make that happen. If you’re a politician and you want to win, then you make sure that happens no matter what. You will sacrifice whatever and whoever to make sure you reach your goal.

That’s what the world does for temporal goals. If the world will go to that kind of extreme to reach their ideals, then Christians ought to use their wisdom in a righteous manner for the sake of their eternal dwellings. We Christians should be solely focused on the prize awaiting us, since our prize is far greater than any other found on earth. St. Paul writes about this in his epistles, for example he says in 1 Corinthians: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” Again, we read in Hebrews: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

The goal for the Christian is clear. You know what it is that you strive towards. So be singly minded towards that goal. If CEOs and various successful businessmen will dedicate their lives to the acquisition of worldly wealth, then our lives should be even more dedicated to the heavenly treasures prepared for us in paradise. If it takes long hours, lack of sleep, willingness to risk our property and lives, stressful labors, and tireless zeal all to earn an earthly fortune, then we should do all of those things and more in order to receive an eternal reward which has already been earned for us by the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross.

Perhaps at times we behave lazily and sluggish since we figure Christ has already done the work for us. It is entirely true that our salvation is not our work, but is completely the work of Christ. By His fulfillment of the law, by His sacrificial death, by His shed blood which atones for our sins, by the power of His word, and by the working of the Holy Spirit to call us to faith the kingdom of heaven has been won for us. No labors we perform, whether works according to the law or works according to our worldly wisdom, no labors of our own can merit us even one moment in heaven. But this shouldn’t make us lazy.

Instead of laziness, the certainty of our salvation and the blessed assurance of our inheritance in heaven should invigorate us all the more. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, because our weight of sin has been lifted from us, because the burden of the law has been made a delight, because of the joy of paradise, because of the saints which surround us, because the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we should be pumped to live lives dedicated to Christ. The new life we have in Jesus means that we are free in Christ to live with joy and peace in the gospel, and also to serve our Lord with a ready, willing, and cheerful service.

Christian wisdom is greater wisdom than worldly wisdom, because Chrsitian wisdom employs every treasure, heavenly and worldly, for the sake of the goal of the upward call in Christ Jesus. Jesus talks about that heavenly and worldly treasure we must be faithful with. “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. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” 

The true riches, or the much, or the greater heavenly treasure is most certainly the means of grace. God’s word and His blessed sacraments are these greater treasures which we must put to use. We are all beggars and we receive all from God as a gift; we are stewards, and God, our heavenly Master, has entrusted to us His precious word. The unrighteous steward wasted his master's possessions and was fired. Let us learn from that example not to waste this treasure entrusted to us, but gladly put it to use through diligent study and paying rapt attention to it. For by the strength of the Gospel our faith will be nurtured and God will sustain us in the faith until the end.

That part about the wise use of heavenly riches probably seems obvious since pastors talk about that all the time. But this parable also helps us to think about our wise use of the lesser riches, the very little, the unrighteous wealth. For Christ today teaches us: “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Not only must we wisely use heavenly treasures, like the Bible, but we must also wisely use our worldly treasures, like our time, money, and possessions.

All of our lives must be dedicated to the Lord, and that includes all of the worldly goods that we have. Think of it the same way a business man is always reinvesting what he earns into his business in order to grow his business. He spends the money and doesn’t have it for other things, but at the same time since the money was put into the business he really does still have it. We are, in a way, reinvesting what God has given us into the Lord for the sake of our faith and the faith of others. Whatever we reinvest in the Lord isn’t gone, but we shall receive far more back in return when we reach our eternal dwelling.

This is very practical. When it comes to your time, schedule a portion of it in service to the Lord. Daily this means devotions, weekly it means participation in the Divine Service, Bible Study, and other congregational activities. But essentially it means budgeting your time with an aim towards your heavenly goal, even if that means sacrificing your earthly goals. Look at your calendar, examine how you spend your time just like you would with your money, and see where your time is spent and how you can be a better steward of that. Don’t waste it, don’t put it to unrighteous use, but use it wisely for the sake of your eternal goal. 

When it comes to your money and possessions, budget a portion of it in service to the Lord. Firstly, you need to support your local congregation. Your local congregation engages in nourishing your soul through the word and sacraments, it is the main manner of evangelism to the unbelieving world in your neighborhoods, and it is your local Christian family by which you support one another. This should receive the main brunt of your financial support. But essentially, your goal is to use your earthly wealth with an aim towards your heavenly treasure. I encourage you to be a little bit creative and think outside of the box. For instance, what if when you sell your house you sell it to young Christians for the same price you paid, not the inflated price it might sell for today. There are lots of things you could do here, but the point is that you don’t waste the money on unrighteous uses, but that you would use it wisely for the sake of the eternal goal.

With these things in mind, we remember the maxim from 2 Corinthians: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” Praise be to God that He has generously supplied us with His many and various gifts, and He has richly provided for our eternal salvation through the blood of Christ. May God give us wisdom to evaluate all things, spiritual and temporal, in light of the final, eternal, blessed, goal.