BECOMING FINANCIALLY HEALTHY
Fresh Start #9
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Sunday, June 2, 2024
(Luke 16:1–13, NLT) “Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’ “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’ “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’ “ ‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’ “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own? “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
FAITHFULNESS COMPARED TO UNFAITHFULNESS
(Luke 16:10, NLT) “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”
1. DON’T WASTE MONEY
(Luke 16:1, NLT) “The manager was wasting his employer’s money.”
2. DON’T LOVE MONEY
(Luke 16:13–14, NLT) “You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” The Pharisees, who dearly loved their money, heard all this and scoffed at him.”
3. DON’T TRUST IT
(Luke 16:3, NLT) “Now what? My boss has fired me.”
4. DON’T EXPECT IT TO SATISFY
(Ecclesiastes 5:10, GN) “If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless.”
THE LESSON IS THE THE BLESSING OF FAITHFULNESS
(Acts 4:33, NLT) “God’s great blessing was upon them all.”
1. IT ALL BELONGS TO GOD
(Luke 16:1, NIV) “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.”
1. GOD USES MONEY TO TEST ME
a. THE TEST REVEALS MY TRUE LOVE
(Matthew 6:19–21, NLT) “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, … Store your treasures in heaven, …. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
b. THE TEST SHOWS WHAT I TRULY TRUST
(Proverbs 11:28, NLT) “Trust in your money and down you go! But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.”
c. THE TEST SHOWS THAT GOD CAN TRUST ME
(Luke 16:11–12, CJB) “So if you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who is going to trust you with the real thing? And if you haven’t been trustworthy with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what ought to belong to you?”
3. MONEY IS A TOOL TO BE USED
(Luke 16:9, NLT) “Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.”
a. LOOK AHEAD
(Proverbs 14:8, LB) “The wise man looks ahead. The fool attempts to fool himself and won’t face facts.”
b. MAKE A PLAN
(Proverbs 16:9, LB) “We should make plans—counting on God to direct us.”
c. START TODAY
(Luke 12:35, NLT) “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning,”
4. THE BEST USE OF MONEY IS TO HELP PEOPLE FOR FUTURE REALITIES
“To part with what we cannot keep, that we may get that we cannot lose, is a good bargain. Wealth can do us no good, unless it help us toward heaven.” – Thomas Adams
(Luke 16:9, NLT) “Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.”