Introduction
The triple parable of Luke 15 was a challenge to Pharisees and scribes (vv1-3). This parable of the unjust steward was directed to “his disciples” (16:1), so it is particularly pertinent for us. As formerly, before gleaning lessons from the detail of the story, we must tease out the main point. The Lord Jesus was teaching the need for foresight in the use of our finances. When groveling to his master’s clients, the steward was looking to his own future, anticipating a welcome in their homes when he was dismissed. His master was shrewd and recognized that his steward had been astute, and so he “commended the unjust steward” (v8).1 Please note, it was the fictional “lord” in the story, “his lord” (RV), who commended him, not the Lord Jesus. Dishonesty can never be justified. The steward has used money to make friends. The point of the parable is that we can use our resources to “make friends” (v9).
Be master over your money. Make it work for you. Ensure that the roles are never reversed and it becomes your master, a rival to God, for “ye cannot serve God and mammon” (v13). You can employ your money profitably by using it to further the gospel, and the beneficiaries of your generosity will be ready to “receive you into everlasting habitations” (v9). These “friends” include the man who was saved through reading the Bible that you financed, the people who believed through the preaching of the missionaries whom you supported, the folks who turned to Christ when they read the leaflets that you paid for. You have made them your friends by the sacrificial use of your resources, and they will be lining up to welcome you when you join them in the glory! Daniel March’s hymn encourages us to have that mindset:
If you cannot give your thousands
You can give the widow’s mite;
And the least you do for Jesus
Will be precious in His sight.
Stewardship
There are different aspects of stewardship which can be mentioned with only the minimum of comment. In ancient times, a steward was someone who administered the household affairs of his wealthy master. Joseph was a steward in Potiphar’s household (Gen 39:4), and he in turn had a steward (43:19). Thus, spiritual stewards administer responsibilities that God has put into their hands. Elders are stewards; Paul insists that an overseer be “blameless, as the steward of God” (Titus 1:7). We are all responsible for the use of the spiritual gift we have received, hence the need to “minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1Pe 4:10). We are “stewards of the mysteries of God” with a duty to faithfully communicate divine truth as now contained in the New Testament (1Co 4:1-2), and like Paul, a dispensation (stewardship) of the gospel has been committed to us (9:17).
In the context of the parable of Luke 16, stewardship has to do with controlling the money with which God has entrusted us. David encouraged his subjects to feel responsible for financing the building of the temple, and he used terms which encapsulate the basic elements of Bible stewardship: “All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee” (1Ch 29:14). He indicates that all that we give to God belongs to Him anyway, “thine own.” This highlights proper biblical recycling. What we receive is returned to Him and in turn is refunded to us, and so the resources circulate. There is a danger of regarding our hard-earned cash as something to be hoarded as an insurance against a “rainy day,” or to be splashed out in financing a lavish lifestyle. The Savior spoke of “treasures in heaven” (Mat 6:20), which are beyond the reach of a stock-market crash or roaring inflation or any other modern equivalent of the moth, rust and thieves. Are we making friends with the mammon of unrighteousness?
Accountability
The steward in the story was “wasting” his master’s goods, just as believers can rob God (Mal 3:8). Either by maladministration or more likely by dishonesty, he was dissipating his master’s resources just as surely as the prodigal recklessly “wasted” his father’s legacy. People talk, and rumors about the steward were circulating, the idea behind the word “accused” in verse 1, so inevitably it came to the master’s ears. And then the words that leap from the page: “Give an account of thy stewardship” (v2)! Elders, give an account of thy stewardship. Christian, as to your gift, give an account of thy stewardship. Custodians of spiritual mysteries and gospel truths, give an account of thy stewardship. It is at the judgement seat of Christ that we will be called to account. “It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1Co 4:2), and in a parable preview of the event, a “good servant” is told, “Thou hast been faithful” (Luk 19:17), and an appropriate reward was forthcoming. We really should aspire to that.
The concept of accountability is illustrated in the story of Ezra. The wave of exiles who returned to Jerusalem with Ezra were entrusted with silver and gold and vessels for the house of God (Ezra 8:24-36). Everything was weighed when committed to them (vv25-27). They were told that these precious things would be reweighed at Jerusalem (v29), and as promised, this took place on the fourth day after their arrival (vv33-34). Our responsibilities as stewards have been measured precisely; may there be no deficiencies at the reweighing time when we give an account of our stewardship.
Forethought
The steward in our parable features the native cunning of the natural man which contrasts with the transparency of the regenerate soul (Luk 16:8). As he worked his notice, he ingratiated himself with his master’s clients by discounting their bills, buying their friendship in hope of taking advantage of their hospitality in his impending straitened circumstances. The point is that he was thinking ahead. Ignore his dishonesty; ignore his craftiness; the lesson for us is that he had foresight. We often hear that on the night we were saved we made a choice between heaven and hell. Every day since we have to make the choice between heaven and earth; what world are we living for? It would be good to be like Moses who made the right life-choices, taking the future into account: “He had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Heb 11:26). That was more important to him than “treasures in Egypt.”
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.
