Sermon Recap: Worship (Luke 16:1-13)

This is a recap of the latest sermon in our series on Jesus on Money.


Whether you realize it or not, everybody is a worshiper. Everyone is devoted and has reverence and adoration for something. There is always something that demands all your time, thoughts, energy, emotion, and money to. In most cases, what we own, we end up worshiping. Since we are owners of God’s grace in Christ, we worship Him by being faithful stewards of what we’ve been given.

What You Own Owns You

Whatever it is we worship will always be all-consuming and place demands on you. The reality is what we own always ends up owning us. This isn’t just talking about children, houses, or jobs but even how we possess ideas like freedom or choice. These are not bad things in and of themselves but they easily consume us. This is why there is freedom in reality that God doesn’t call us to be owners but stewards of all He has given.

Stewards Never Own

In the parable, the dishonest manager realizes his previous failures in stewardship and makes decisions to protect his future. The reality of stewardship is you can’t do whatever you want with what you’re given. You’re always subject to the one who gave you the responsibility. In the same way, God has called us to be stewards of what all we have and act with God’s desires in mind.

You Worship What You Own

Furthermore, Jesus’ parable helps us see that if non-believers are wise enough to invest with their long-term futures in mind, how much more should followers of Jesus take what is earthly and invest it in eternal things? Especially since Jesus is the only thing we ever truly own, how much more should all we have, spend, give, and do be directed toward His ends? Jesus is the only thing in this world that we worship that will not demand or eat us alive. He is worthy of our worship.

Reflection and Application

  1. What are the things in your life that you feel a strong sense of ownership of? What are the things that you know you are only a steward of?

  2. Have you ever owned something that really ended up owning you? That ended up sucking up your time, money, or energy?

  3. How does seeing yourself as a steward rather than an owner of your money change the way you think about and handle it?

  4. Are there ways in which you are actively seeking to take what is earthly and temporal and investing it in eternal and everlasting things? How?

  5. How does the reality that the only thing God calls you to truly own and take hold of is Jesus Christ Himself? How does that change the way you approach your possessions?

  6. How does worship of Jesus differ from worshiping any other gods or earthly things? What does Jesus demand from us in return versus what everything else demands from their adherents?