Luke Chapter 16 continues Jesus’ warning about the heart.

In Luke Ch15, Jesus answered the Pharisees and scribes with parables about lost sinners being found. In Luke 16, He speaks about money, faithfulness, the law, and eternity.

The chapter presses one question:

What are we living for?

The Dishonest Manager

Jesus begins with a difficult parable about a dishonest manager.

The manager is about to lose his position, so he acts quickly to prepare for what comes next. Jesus is not praising his dishonesty. He is pointing to his urgency and shrewdness.

The man understood that his present situation was temporary.

That is the lesson.

Believers should understand that this life is temporary too. Money, position, and opportunity will not last forever. They should be used in light of eternity.

Jesus says that whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much. If someone is dishonest with worldly wealth, why would they be trusted with true riches?

Money reveals the heart.

It can be used faithfully, generously, and wisely.

Or it can become a master.

You Cannot Serve God and Money

Jesus says plainly, “You cannot serve God and money.”

This does not mean money itself is evil. It means money is a terrible lord. It promises security, status, control, and comfort, but it cannot save the soul.

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, ridicule Jesus.

Jesus answers that God knows their hearts. What is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

That is a sobering sentence.

People may honor greed, appearance, success, and religious status. But God sees beneath all of it.

He knows the heart.

From a Christian Reformed lens, this reminds us that outward respectability cannot justify us before God. We need grace. We need a new heart. We need Christ.

The Law, the Kingdom, and the Heart

Jesus says the Law and the Prophets were until John, and since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached.

This does not mean God’s Word has failed or been set aside. Jesus immediately says it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

The kingdom does not destroy God’s Word.

It fulfills it in Christ.

Jesus also speaks briefly about divorce and remarriage, showing that kingdom life is not loose or careless with God’s commands. The same Lord who welcomes sinners also upholds righteousness.

Grace does not make sin harmless.

Grace brings sinners under the reign of Christ.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

Then Jesus tells of a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus.

The rich man is clothed in luxury and feasts every day. Lazarus lies at his gate, covered with sores, longing to be fed with what falls from the rich man’s table.

Then both men die.

Lazarus is carried to Abraham’s side.

The rich man is in torment.

This is a great reversal.

The man who had comfort in life now suffers.

The man who suffered in life is now comforted.

The point is not that poverty automatically saves or that wealth automatically condemns. The point is that the rich man lived with hardness of heart. Lazarus was at his gate, and he ignored him.

His wealth became a witness against him.

The rich man asks for relief, but a great chasm is fixed. Then he asks that Lazarus be sent to warn his brothers.

Abraham answers that they have Moses and the Prophets.

The rich man says that if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

But Abraham says, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

That line points beyond the parable.

Jesus Himself will rise from the dead.

And still, many will not believe.

The problem is not lack of evidence only.

The problem is the hardened heart.

The Message of Luke Chapter 16

Luke Chapter 16 warns us not to waste this life.

Money is temporary.

Eternity is real.

God sees the heart.

His Word must be heard.

The rich man had comfort, wealth, and opportunity, but he did not listen to God’s Word and did not show mercy at his own gate.

Lazarus had nothing in this world, but he was not forgotten by God.

From a Christian Reformed lens, this chapter humbles us. We are not saved by money, status, religious appearance, or earthly comfort. We are saved by the mercy of God in Christ.

But grace does not make us careless.

It teaches us to live now in light of eternity.

Use what God gives faithfully.

Do not serve money.

Hear the Word.

Show mercy.

And do not wait until eternity to discover what truly mattered.