Oct 18, 2026

You Cannot Serve Both God and Money

Sermon Series: The Gospel of Luke: God's Promise Fulfilled

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Notes

BIG IDEA:
You cannot serve both God and money.
1. Send it on ahead (vv. 1-13)
2. Make a decision (vv. 14-18)

 

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Have you ever had two bosses who weren’t entirely on the same page? Perhaps they defined success differently, had different expectations for your role, or wanted you to employ different strategies to achieve success? Have you ever had that experience? How did it go for you? It’s not just bosses. If you are or were an athlete, have you ever had two coaches who weren’t on the same page about your training plan or the way your team prepared for competition? The worst is when the parent and the coach aren’t on the same page about who is actually coaching the child. Yes, I have been that guy at my daughter’s soccer games. Having two coaches or two bosses who aren’t on the same page is pure chaos because they have competing expectations, make competing promises, and, perhaps worst of all, you just can’t make both happy. You cannot serve them both.

In a similar way, at the heart of our passage this morning, the Lord Jesus Christ teaches that you cannot serve both God and money. God and money have competing expectations, make competing promises, and have very different definitions of success. Luke 16:13 – “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.” Those final words in verse 13 bring us to the big idea of our passage this morning: You cannot serve both God and money. The big idea isn’t that you should not serve both God and money. No, it’s not that you shouldn’t. Jesus says, “you can’t.” You cannot serve both God and money. In a moment we are going to get to what we can do, what we should do, because that’s what our passage is about, but before we get there I want to answer three questions that may arise in your mind when you hear Jesus teach, “You cannot serve both God and money.” Three questions:

Question One: “Why can’t we serve God and money? After all, I have two bosses, two parents, two coaches, and it’s actually going OK.” Great question! The truth is that you may have two bosses, but one of them is higher on the organizational chart than the other. One has more authority, and one will have ultimate rule. That’s Jesus’ point. When it comes to God and money, only one can rule your life. Ultimately, one will be hated and one loved. You may say you love both, but your actions will reveal which is your real Lord and Master. God and money are ruling realities; therefore, you can’t actually divide your loyalty. It’s all or nothing, one or the other.

Question Two: “Serving and loving money isn’t a temptation for me. How do I apply Jesus’ teaching?” Well, let’s slow down and think about money for a moment. Almost no one really loves money itself, whether paper bills or a plastic card. Rather, we love what money promises access to. We love money because of what money promises to give us. That’s why two people can both love and serve money and yet look very different from one another.

In his book Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller explains:

Some people want lots of money as a way to control their world and life, and such people usually don’t spend much money and live very modestly. They keep it all safely saved and invested so that they can feel completely safe in the world. Others want money for access to social circles and to make themselves beautiful and attractive. These people do spend their money on themselves in lavish ways. Other people want money because it gives them so much power over others. In every case, money functions as an idol, and yet because of various deep idols it results in very different patterns of behavior.

If you’ve ever been part of a group of Christians who confess their sins to each other, almost no one confesses the sin of serving and loving money. However, since Jesus warns about greed as often as He does, Keller says that we should all begin with the working hypothesis that this could easily be a problem for me. I think it would serve us all well to listen to Jesus’ teaching this morning with that working hypothesis.

Question Three: “This is not the first time Jesus has taught us about money in the Gospel of Luke. Why does Jesus talk about money so much?” You’re right. Jesus talked a lot about money. In The Treasure Principle, which is probably my favorite book about money and generosity, Randy Alcorn estimates that 15 percent of everything Christ said relates to money, more than His teachings on Heaven and Hell combined. Some people wonder why the church talks so much about money, but in light of the percentage of Jesus’ teaching on money, I suppose I should be embarrassed by how little we talk about money! I know that there are religious and secular charlatans who prey on people’s emotions, pull at their heartstrings, and prey on their money. That is wicked. I’m so sorry if that has happened to you or someone you love. Don’t let that distract you from Jesus.

Money is very important to Jesus. Why is this topic so important to Jesus? Simply, Alcorn says it’s because our approach to money and possessions is central to our spiritual lives. Have you ever bought a share of stock in a company? If so, have you noticed what happens? You start following the stock price of that company. Where you put your money is where your attention goes. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” because “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The ultimate reason Jesus talks so much about money is that you cannot serve both God and money; therefore, He wants you to know the joy of serving God with your money. You cannot serve both God and money. What should we do with money? Our passage emphasizes two things: 1. Send it on ahead (vv. 1–13). 2. Make a decision (vv. 14–18).

SEND IT ON AHEAD

Our passage begins with a parable that, at first glance, can be a little confusing. You may have read it and wondered if Jesus is commending dishonest business practices or something of the sort. When reading Jesus’ parables, there are at least two helpful things to remember.

First, remember that the Bible interprets the Bible. We interpret Scripture with Scripture. So, don’t learn anything from Jesus’ parables that He doesn’t intend to teach you. The Bible is clear that we should not steal or defraud people, so don’t learn that from this parable.

Second, when reading Jesus’ parables, Jesus will often pull back the curtain and tell us the point, which He does in verses 8 and 9 of this parable.

The parable itself is simple enough. There was a rich business owner who entrusted his business to a manager. Pretty common practice even today. Charges were brought to the business owner that the manager was wasting his master’s possessions, so the business owner fired the manager. Pretty standard.

However, what the manager does next is where things get interesting. The manager said to himself, “I am too weak to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg for money, but I’m about to be jobless and destitute. Here is what I’ll do. As my final act as manager, I’ll release my master’s debtors from some of the debt they owe him so that they’ll love me, become loyal to me, and receive me into their estates when I’m tossed out on the street.”

So the manager went around and did just that and secured his future.

End of parable.

What’s the point? How do we apply the parable to our lives?

The Lord Jesus tells us in Luke 16:8–9. Luke 16:8 – “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” Jesus commends the dishonest manager not because he’s dishonest. That’s not the point. Jesus commends the dishonest manager because he is more shrewd, clever, and strategic about securing benefits for himself in the future than many Christians are about using their earthly wealth to secure for themselves treasures in heaven (repeat).

The point of the parable is this: Use your money and possessions to invest in people’s eternities, and they will receive you into their eternal dwellings.

So, what should Jesus’ disciples do about it? Jesus now tells us.

Luke 16:9 – “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

Let’s examine that verse carefully. Jesus begins by saying, “And I tell you,” so we know He’s applying the dishonest manager’s shrewdness in securing his future to us. Then Jesus says, “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth.” What is “unrighteous wealth”?

Well, we know Jesus would never commend the use of wealth earned in an unrighteous or sinful way, so He can’t be referring to wealth gained unrighteously. We also know that wealth is not inherently unrighteous because godly people like Abraham in the Old Testament and Lydia in the New Testament were wealthy. It’s the love of money, not money itself, that is the root of all kinds of evil. Therefore, it’s best to read “unrighteous wealth” as wealth that is of this world, temporary wealth, like the money in your bank account, the equity in your home, or your investments.

Finally, Jesus says, “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” In other words, Jesus is saying that, like the shrewd manager, His disciples should shrewdly use their earthly wealth to store up treasures in heaven by giving their money away to magnify Jesus. Those who shrewdly give their money away to magnify Jesus are actually sending it ahead, storing up treasure in eternal dwellings.

Of course, Jesus is not teaching that we earn our salvation in heaven by the way we use our worldly wealth. We just learned last week that sinners of every sort, wild sinners and responsible sinners alike, who repent and believe in Jesus are forgiven and inherit eternal life. However, we show that we truly love and trust Jesus in our hearts by what we do with our wallets, our cash and cards.

The point of the parable is this: Use your money and possessions to invest in people’s eternities, and they will receive you into their eternal dwellings.

Randy Alcorn’s comments on Luke 16:9 are inspiring, even if they are slightly speculative:

Jesus told His followers to use “worldly wealth” (money and possessions) to “gain friends” (by making a difference in their lives on Earth). The reason? “So that when it is gone [when life on Earth is over], you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (v. 9). Our “friends” in Heaven will be those whose lives we’ve touched on Earth, who will have their own “eternal dwellings.” Luke 16:9 seems to say our friends’ eternal dwellings are places where we stay and fellowship, perhaps as we move about the heavenly kingdom. The money we give to help others on Earth will open doors of fellowship in Heaven. Now that’s something to get excited about!

So, how do we apply the parable of the dishonest manager? Live by the Treasure Principle: You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. That’s the message of the parable.

You can’t take your money with you. It’s worldly, temporary wealth! John D. Rockefeller was one of the richest people who ever lived. After he died, someone asked his accountant, “How much money did John leave?” His accountant had the perfect reply: “He left… all of it.”

You cannot take worldly wealth with you, but you can send it on ahead. You can store up for yourselves treasures in heaven that cannot diminish or fail by giving your worldly wealth away to magnify Jesus.

And the parable of the dishonest manager is by no means the only place where the Bible teaches the Treasure Principle:

Matthew 6:19–21 – “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

1 Timothy 6:17–19 – “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

You cannot serve both God and money. So send your money on ahead by giving it away for the sake of building Jesus’ church and magnifying Jesus’ name. Be shrewd in the way you strategize to use your wealth to invest in eternity.

The worldly person thinks that being shrewd with money is beating the S&P 500 by 2–3 percent each year. Jesus is saying that to really be shrewd with money is to invest it in things that will outlast this present age. You cannot take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

In The Treasure Principle, Alcorn says there are six Treasure Principle keys that must master you if you want the joy of living by the Treasure Principle with an eternally minded investment strategy:

  1. God owns everything. I’m His money manager. We are the managers of the assets God has entrusted, not given, to us.
  2. My heart always goes where I put God’s money. Watch what happens when you reallocate your money from temporal things to eternal things.
  3. Heaven and the future New Earth, not this fallen one, are my home. We are citizens of “a better country, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16).
  4. I should live not for the dot but for the line. From the dot, our present life on Earth, extends a line that goes on forever, which is eternity in Heaven.
  5. Giving is the only antidote to materialism. Giving is a joyful surrender to a greater Person and a greater agenda. It dethrones me and exalts Him.
  6. God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving. God gives us more money than we need so we can give generously.

You cannot serve both God and money, so first, send it on ahead.

Second:

MAKE A DECISION

Though Luke 16:1 says that Jesus told the parable of the dishonest manager to His disciples, the Pharisees must have been present as well, and they were, well, displeased.

Luke 16:14 – “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.”

Now that’s a curious verse. We know from earlier in Luke that the Pharisees had mastered tithing. They didn’t just give a tenth of their income to the Lord. They even gave a tenth from their vegetable gardens. Apparently, you can dutifully give a tenth of your income to the Lord and still love and serve money.

How is that possible?

Well, listen to what Jesus says to them.

Luke 16:15 – “And he said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.’”

The Pharisees’ problem was that they tithed to be seen and approved of by people. Their problem was that they gave ten percent, thought they were right with God and people, and kept the other ninety percent to do as they pleased because they loved money.

The problem with the Pharisees wasn’t their tithing. Their problem was that they relied on their tithing to be right with God because they didn’t really love God; they loved money. And that is an abomination to God that will receive His eternal condemnation.

Now, what Jesus says to the Pharisees next may make it seem like He’s changing the subject away from money, but He’s not. He’s actually getting to the heart of money matters.

Luke 16:16–18 – “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”

What do the Law, the Prophets, the kingdom, and divorce have to do with making a decision about our money?

Everything.

Let me explain.

The Law and the Prophets is shorthand for the Old Testament. The Old Testament begins with creation: God created everything out of nothing with a word and made man and woman in His own image to glorify Him. Adam and Eve turned away from God, and every person since has inherited Adam’s guilt. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, thus deserving His righteous eternal judgment.

However, God promised that the seed of Eve would one day crush the head of that devilish serpent. The whole of the Old Testament is the unfolding of this promise that an offspring, a Son of Eve, will come and make right everything that went wrong with Adam in the garden.

The entire Old Testament looks forward to Him.

Every law points forward to His perfect law-keeping. Every sacrifice points forward to His death and resurrection for our sins. Every promise from the prophets finds its “yes” in Him.

And at just the right time, God sent a man to prepare the way for this Son: John the Baptist. John the Baptist signaled that the age of promise was giving way to the age of fulfillment.

And when the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Eve, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, and the Son of God, began His ministry, He proclaimed that the Law and the Prophets were finally fulfilled and that it was now decision time.

It’s decision time.

All who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ are forgiven of their sins and welcomed into God’s kingdom by grace. The good news of the kingdom of God is now being proclaimed, and everyone is forcefully urged into it. It’s decision time!

Will you follow the Law and the Prophets by believing in Jesus the King and being welcomed into His kingdom? Will you embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and your only hope in life and death for the forgiveness of your sins?

Everyone is forcefully urged into it.

And if you enter His kingdom by grace through faith in Christ, then the kingdom will show in the way you send your money ahead into the eternal kingdom.

And money is not the only place where the kingdom will show. According to Jesus, it will also show in the way you treat marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

Luke 16:18 is not the only place where the Law, the Lord Jesus, and the Apostles speak to the issues of divorce and remarriage. Taking all that the Bible teaches about divorce and remarriage into account, the pastors of Citylight Church summarize the biblical doctrine of divorce and remarriage this way:

Divorce is permitted by God when one is the victim of adultery or serious, observable sexual sin on the part of his or her spouse, persistent unwillingness to cohabitate by his or her spouse, or gross negligence on the part of his or her spouse in fulfilling the marital duties of material and relational provision. Only those whose divorce is permitted by God are free to remarry.

Ok, what’s the point?

The point is that the time of promise has been fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. The long-promised Son of Eve and Son of God, Jesus Christ, has come. He was tempted in every way we are, yet lived the sinless life we rebels have failed to live. He then willingly died upon the cross in our place to take the just penalty our sins deserve.

But on the third day, the Father raised Him from the dead.

He is now seated at the right hand of God, from where He will come to judge the living and the dead and establish His kingdom forever.

It’s time to choose.

You must make a decision.

Will you repent of your sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be welcomed into His kingdom, or will you be shut out forever?

Will you show that you have received the good news of free entry into God’s kingdom through Christ by daily serving God rather than money?

You cannot serve God and money.

It’s time to decide.

Repent and believe in Jesus. Enter His kingdom by grace and daily embrace the joy of the Treasure Principle:

You can’t take it with you, but you can send it ahead.