Page 13 - October 2026 - Truth & Tidings

Introduction turned to Christ when they read the leaf-
The triple parable of Luke 15 was a lets that you paid for. You have made them
challenge to Pharisees and scribes (vv1- your friends by the sacrificial use of your
resources, and they will be lining up to
3). This parable of the unjust steward was welcome you when you join them in the
directed to “his disciples” (16:1), so it is glory! Daniel March’s hymn encourages
particularly pertinent for us. As formerly, us to have that mindset:
before gleaning lessons from the detail
of the story, we must tease out the main If you cannot give your thousands
point. The Lord Jesus was teaching the You can give the widow’s mite;
need for foresight in the use of our financ- And the least you do for Jesus
es. When groveling to his master’s clients,
the steward was looking to his own future, Will be precious in His sight.
anticipating a welcome in their homes Stewardship
when he was dismissed. His master was
shrewd and recognized that his steward There are different aspects of steward-
had been astute, and so he “commended ship which can be mentioned with only
the unjust steward” (v8). Please note, it the minimum of comment. In ancient
1
was the fictional “lord” in the story, “his times, a steward was someone who ad-
lord” (RV), who commended him, not ministered the household affairs of his
the Lord Jesus. Dishonesty can never be wealthy master. Joseph was a steward in
justified. The steward has used money to Potiphar’s household (Gen 39:4), and he in
make friends. The point of the parable is turn had a steward (43:19). Thus, spiritual
that we can use our resources to “make stewards administer responsibilities that
friends” (v9). God has put into their hands. Elders are
Be master over your money. Make it stewards; Paul insists that an overseer be
work for you. Ensure that the roles are “blameless, as the steward of God” (Titus
1:7). We are all responsible for the use of
never reversed and it becomes your the spiritual gift we have received, hence
master, a rival to God, for “ye cannot
serve God and mammon” (v13). You can the need to “minister the same one to an-
employ your money profitably by using other, as good stewards of the manifold
it to further the gospel, and the beneficia- grace of God” (1Pe 4:10). We are “stewards
of the mysteries of God” with a duty to
ries of your generosity will be ready to faithfully communicate divine truth as
“receive you into everlasting habitations”
(v9). These “friends” include the man who now contained in the New Testament
was saved through reading the Bible that (1Co 4:1-2), and like Paul, a dispensation
you financed, the people who believed (stewardship) of the gospel has been com-
mitted to us (9:17).
through the preaching of the missionar-
ies whom you supported, the folks who In the context of the parable of Luke 16,
stewardship has to do with controlling
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the the money with which God has entrusted
KJV unless otherwise noted. us. David encouraged his subjects to feel
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