Joyful Moments in Christ

This Bible study lesson is for people who are learning English (ELL or ESL students). It is made for advanced beginner and intermediate English learners. Children who speak English or adults who prefer easy English may also enjoy it and learn from it.

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Lesson Icebreaker Question

What is the smartest or cleverest thing you have ever seen someone do to solve a problem?

Lesson Highlight

In this lesson, we will hear a story Jesus told about a servant who made a smart but tricky plan. We will talk about how we should be wise with money and trust God more than money.

Vocabulary List (GNT)

1. Account — A record of money received and spent.
2. Another — One more person or thing.
3. Ashamed — Feeling bad or embarrassed about something wrong you did.
4. Barrel — A large, round container used to hold liquids or other things.
5. Belongs — To be owned by someone.
6. Called In — Asked someone to come and meet.
7. Complete — Whole; with nothing missing.
8. Debt — Money that someone owes to another person.
9. Despise — To strongly dislike someone or something.
10. Dig — To break up and move earth with a tool or hands.
11. Ditches — Long, narrow holes in the ground used to hold or move water.
12. Disciples — Followers or students of Jesus.
13. Dishonest — Not truthful; doing wrong by lying or stealing.
14. Dismiss — To tell someone to leave a job or place.
15. Eternal Home — A forever place to live with God after this life.
16. Faithful — Doing what is right and keeping promises.
17. Friend — A person you like and trust.
18. Gives Out — Runs out or comes to an end.
19. Handling — Taking care of something or managing it.
20. Hate — To strongly dislike someone or something.
21. Home — The place where someone lives.
22. Job — The work a person does to earn money.
23. Large — Big in size or number.
24. Love — To care for someone very much.
25. Make — To cause something to happen or exist.
26. Manage — To be in charge of or take care of something.
27. Master — A person who is the boss over servants or workers.
28. Matters — Important things or subjects.
29. Money — Coins or paper people use to buy things or pay for work.
30. Owe — To have to pay or give something back to someone.
31. People Of This World — People who care more about life now than about God.
32. People Who Belong To The Light — People who follow God and live in his ways.
33. Praise — To say good things about someone or something.
34. Property — Things that belong to a person, like land, money, or animals.
35. Rich — Having a lot of money or valuable things.
36. Servant — A person who works for someone else.
37. Shall — A word used to say what someone will do.
38. Shrewd Manager — A clever and smart worker in charge of another person’s things.
39. Sit Down — To lower your body into a chair or on the ground.
40. Slave — A person owned by another person and forced to work.
41. Small — Little in size or number.
42. Someone Else — Another person, not you.
43. Such — Used to show a special kind or degree of something.
44. True Wealth — The most valuable things, like God’s blessings, not just money.
45. Welcomed — Happily accepted someone into a place.
46. What Shall I Do? — A question people ask when they are not sure what action to take.
47. Wheat — A grain used to make bread and other foods.
48. Worldly Wealth — Money and riches that people have while living on earth.
49. Write — To put words or numbers on paper.

Summary of the Passage

This passage is a story Jesus told to teach a lesson. Jesus was talking to his followers. In the story, there was a rich man who had a servant. The servant’s job was to take care of the rich man’s money and land. But one day, the rich man heard that the servant was wasting his money. So he told the servant that he would lose his job and needed to show what he had done with the money.

The servant worried because he had no other job and did not want to beg for food. So, he made a clever plan. He went to the people who owed his master money. He told them to quickly change their bills and write down smaller amounts. This way, they would be happy with him and help him after he lost his job.

When the rich man found out, he was surprised. Instead of being angry, he praised the servant for being smart and careful. The servant was not faithful, but he was clever. Jesus explained that people in the world often make clever plans to help themselves. But God wants his people to be wise and clever too. God also wants them to be faithful in small things and big things.

This passage teaches us that we should be careful and wise with the things God gives us. Money is not bad, but it should not be more important than God. God wants us to be honest, kind, and to trust him more than anything else.

Read The Passage

The Shrewd Manager
1-2 Jesus said to his disciples, “There was once a rich man who had a servant who managed his property. The rich man was told that the manager was wasting his master’s money, so he called him in and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in a complete account of your handling of my property, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’
3 The servant said to himself, ‘My master is going to dismiss me from my job. What shall I do? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg.
4 Now I know what I will do! Then when my job is gone, I shall have friends who will welcome me in their homes.’
5 So he called in all the people who were in debt to his master. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 ‘One hundred barrels of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘sit down and write fifty.’
7 Then he asked another one, ‘And you—how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘write eight hundred.’
8 As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light.”
9 And Jesus went on to say, “And so I tell you: make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed in the eternal home.
10 Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones.
11 If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth?
12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?
13 “No servant can be the slave of two masters; such a slave will hate one and love the other or will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Luke 16:1-13 (GNT)

Most English learners should use the New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) or the Good News Translation (GNT) because they are easy to read. If you want to try something harder, you can read one of the other Bible versions:

• Very Easy: New International Reader’s Version: Luke 16:1-13 (NIRV)
• Easy: Good News Translation: Luke 16:1-13 (GNT)
• Medium: New Living Translation: Luke 16:1-13 (NLT)
• Hard: New International Version: Luke 16:1-13 (NIV)
• Very Hard: English Standard Version: Luke 16:1-13 (ESV)

Comprehension Questions

1. Who are the people in this story Jesus told?
2. What was the servant’s job?
3. Why was the rich man unhappy with the servant?
4. What did the servant worry about after he lost his job?
5. What clever plan did the servant make with the people who owed money?
6. How did the rich man react to the servant’s plan?
7. What did Jesus say about people being wise with money?
8. Why does Jesus tell us to be faithful in small things?
9. What does Jesus say we cannot serve at the same time?
10. Who should we choose to serve with our hearts?

Application Questions

1. Why is it important to be honest, even with small things?
2. Have you ever had to make a wise choice in a hard situation?
3. What are some ways we can use money in a good way?
4. Why do you think it is hard for people to trust God more than money?
5. How can we show God that we love him more than anything else?

Theological Insights

1. God wants his people to be honest and faithful with what they have.
2. Money is not bad, but it should not become more important than God.
3. God watches how we handle small things and big things in life.
4. A wise person plans well, but still trusts God first.
5. We cannot serve two masters. Our hearts must choose God before anything else.

Closing Prayer

Dear Father, thank you for teaching us through Jesus’ stories. Help us to be wise, honest, and to trust you more than anything else. Amen.

ELL Resources for the Gospel of Luke

More ELL Resources

You can find more Bible lessons for English learners on the main ELL page.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.