The Unjust Steward

Q: What does the Bible say about stewardship?

The Bible presents stewardship as a serious responsibility given by God, where we are expected to manage His resources faithfully. In the parable of the unjust steward found in Luke 16, stewardship is described as the management of resources entrusted to an individual by a master. Jesus highlights the importance and accountability of being a steward, indicating that those who are faithful in small matters will be entrusted with greater responsibilities. This reflects the biblical principle that God expects His people to manage their resources—whether spiritual, material, or relational—with integrity and faithfulness, illustrating that our earthly stewardship foreshadows our eternal rewards.

Q: How do we know that God's grace saves us?

God's grace saves us through faith and the finished work of Christ, not by our works. The doctrine of salvation by grace is foundational in Reformed theology, emphasizing that salvation is not earned through human merit but is a gift of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 states, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.' This understanding is consistent throughout Scripture, which underlines that our faith in Christ and His atoning sacrifice is the basis for our salvation, ensuring that God alone receives the glory.

Q: Why is being a friend of God important for Christians?

Being a friend of God signifies a profound relationship built on faith, trust, and obedience. In James 2:23, we see that Abraham was called a 'friend of God' because of his faith and righteousness. For Christians, being a friend of God represents the intimate relationship and fellowship that believers enjoy with the Creator through faith in Jesus Christ. This relationship affirms our identity as children of God and encourages us to live in a manner that reflects His love and grace. The assurance of being welcomed into eternal life emphasizes the significance of this friendship, as it is founded on God's covenant of grace.

Q: What does 'mammon of unrighteousness' mean?

'Mammon of unrighteousness' refers to wealth that is often associated with dishonesty or worldly values. In Luke 16:9, Jesus instructs His disciples to make friends with the 'mammon of unrighteousness.' This phrase captures the idea that wealth in this world can often lead to unrighteousness and moral compromise. Yet, Jesus encourages believers to utilize their resources wisely and generously to build relationships and support one another, reflecting God's character and love. The challenge is to navigate the worldly system with integrity while focusing on eternal values, serving God rather than allowing wealth to become our master.

Luke's Gospel, chapter 16. And it is, once again, the Lord Jesus Christ who is speaking. And this is an interesting, it is a difficult passage to interpret, I believe, and it is one that would cause, I think, many of us to scratch our heads, but let us just spend a few minutes thinking about what the Lord is teaching us here. So it's Luke chapter 16 and verse 1.

The Lord is speaking, he says, And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man which had a steward, And the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship. I cannot dig. To beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'

So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely.

For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

We have had several parables in recent weeks. Three, indeed, in the last chapter alone. The three lost things that we spent some time thinking about. And I have mentioned, I'm sure on more than one occasion, that there's always a principal spiritual message in a parable. Sometimes several applications that are appropriate might be made. However, it is not necessary to find an application in every detail. And today we have another parable, and that is the parable of the unjust steward. Or do we? I think it is a question, when is a parable not a parable?

Mark tells us that without a parable, spake he, that is the Lord, not unto them. So the Lord didn't speak to the people without a parable. And then he also goes on to say, when they were alone, that is Jesus with his disciples, he expounded all things to his disciples. It is very clear that some things that the Lord says are parables.

They are called such. They are called parables by the inspired writers. Do we say all of them? Certainly the vast majority of parables are in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And very often these gospel writers will tell us, then spoke the Lord this parable, or words to that effect.

In that case, there's no doubt. But there are questions about some portions of scripture, whether they're parables or not, and that's just a reality. So, in many cases, there's no question. Sometimes, indeed, we're given the interpretation of a parable. And again, in such cases, there's no question.

But sometimes it isn't exactly clear whether what the Lord is saying is a parable, that is a story made up and constructed to convey a lesson, or perhaps a history. of some details that he was familiar with, a history brought forward to apply a warning or lay down some truth. Now, of course, all of the Lord's words communicate truth and spiritual meaning, and it is not necessary or indeed desirable that we be able to put everything in a little named box as if we have all the answers. However, as I say, let us remember that it isn't required to find a consistent meaning for every element of a parable. Or if it is, then I confess I often fail in that responsibility. If this passage is a parable, and most writers, most commentators say that it is, then again, as we've reflected on some of the other parables, we might try to identify the different characters and the different personalities that are involved in the parable. Like, who is the rich man intended to represent? Who does the steward represent?

Some say that the rich man is God and that the steward represents the scribes and the Pharisees who were given so much from God, at least in the Old Testament dispensation, but who were deceitful and self-serving and failed to properly lead the people of Israel, the people of the Jews, in the ways of the Lord and in the ways of the religion as it was revealed at that time and that this is what the Lord is condemning. Certainly it is that by the time Christ came the priesthood and the temple worship had been corrupted and far from being good stewards of God's revelations and God's promises and God's goodness and his gifts, the religious orders of the scribes and the lawyers and the Pharisees and the Sadducees were anti-God, they were anti-Christ. In such a construct, the taking away of the stewardship could then mean the end of the nation of Israel with its destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in AD 70. And that's what the Lord is referring to, say some commentators, when he speaks about the stewardship being removed from these scribes and Pharisees. then these religious men having no other trade, no other skill would be indeed cast out without means upon the charity of the very people that they had been misleading and whom they had betrayed with their false and inadequate teaching. Or perhaps it is the Lord's disciples that the steward represents.

Though, as we have seen in our reading, his conduct is largely reprehensible and hardly makes for a good example. The point is that where these parables are not interpreted for us, it isn't always easy to align all the particulars of the story with a suitable spiritual meaning. And I must confess that I rather find Robert Hawker's opinion on this passage most convincing. And he suggests that rather than being a parable at all, that this may be a historical account, the details of which the Lord was familiar with and which he was using to teach his disciples a parallel lesson with respect to their friendship with God.

Actually, Hawker doesn't even think that we're speaking about God at all in the description of the account the Lord gives with respect to the Lord who realises that his steward has been deceiving him. Hawker says that's hardly a picture of the Lord. He rather regards this man, this one who is called the Lord, as a worldly man himself, who has this perverse admiration of another worldly man, the worldly principles that he discerns in this worldly employee, the steward. And nor does Hawker think that the Lord's apostles or preachers are in view in the person of the steward. Again, for the same reason that he is just a worldly man exhibiting worldly attributes and characteristics. Hawker points out that God's stewards are spiritual men, stewards of spiritual truth and teachers of the gospel mysteries.

They're anointed with the Holy Spirit and as such are faithful men to that gospel that has been committed to them. They haven't been the deceitful, self-serving men that the scribes and the Pharisees were. That's not to say that they cannot make mistakes and even be deceitful in their words and actions. But as they are the Lord's ministers, they will never be cast out as this steward was cast out from that role or ejected from the Lord's service because they are faithful men in the preaching of the gospel.

Paul, for example, speaks of these men in 1 Corinthians, specifically perhaps the references to the apostles here, but he speaks of them in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verses 1 and 2 where he says, let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards, so he's talking about exactly the same word, and stewards of the mysteries of the gospel. And then he goes on to say, moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. So with the exception of Judas Iscariot, these apostles of the Lord were faithful men.

And I don't think that what the Lord is doing here is teaching us about Judas Iscariot. There's something else being brought to our mind in this passage. It isn't easy to think of the Lord God commending this servant. He was a crook. He had a mercenary attitude and he employed worldly practices so that it seems unlikely that the Lord Jesus would be commending or recommending a similar self-serving approach in the life and ministry of his disciples. So it seems rather that both the rich man and his steward were men of the world. And since the steward or the servant acting as he did and the master commending his policy and practice as he did shows little spiritual integrity, It is perhaps best simply to think of these men as worldly men with worldly motives. It indicates they were both motivated by worldly aims and objectives in their relative spheres of influence.

So where does that leave us? Well, it leaves me, I think, saying how difficult it is to properly interpret this passage. But how do we interpret what the Lord is saying here? I think one clue perhaps is in the Lord's words when he says, for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And maybe this is the contrast, the comparison that is being set before the Lord's disciples here as he speaks to them because they were the primary audience as we read in verse 1, although as we go further down this passage we will discover that the Scribes and Pharisees were at least in earshot of what was being said. But the Lord says, for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. So let's see if that's a little bit of a clue, a key to understand this. What I'm suggesting is that the Lord is in no way recommending that we follow the example of these two men, the Lord and his steward.

He is simply stating the fact that when worldly men are energised by worldly motives to seek worldly things, nothing will get in their way. The men and women of this world relentlessly pursue those things which they believe will bring them pleasure and happiness and satisfaction. And whether we think of that in terms of money or power or pleasure, the men and women of the world strive in their life, in their generation, to provide themselves with what they can in order to please themselves. And they are committed to their cause with a singular dedication.

If you're like me, when we hear about some of the things that people get up to and some of the things that people do, sometimes we wonder, we shake our head in disbelief when we look at the imaginative and the resourceful ways that people devise to get what they want.

And we think to ourselves, you couldn't beat these people. And maybe that sentiment there, you couldn't beat these people, is exactly what the Lord is saying when he says, the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. So that one practical lesson surely is that we as believers ought to be committed to our heavenly cause. as dedicated to our gospel calling, as keen and enthusiastic about our mission, as are the men and women of the world in pursuit of theirs. Not with the questionable and improper methods that we see employed by this steward, But we too have to get up early in the morning to be about the business of the Lord as the men and women of this world are up early in the morning about the business of mammon and the mammon of unrighteousness. But I think there's something else here too. And perhaps the most difficult verse to understand in this passage is verse 19, Luke 16, sorry, verse nine, Luke 16, verse nine.

The Lord says, and I say unto you, that is, he's speaking still to the disciples, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. So what is the Lord saying here? Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Well, some suggest that the Lord is simply recommending that as we, as believers, that he's recommending that we as believers ought to be generous to the poor, charitable, and use our blessings, our resources in this world, our riches, if you like, our mammon, which is the mammon of this world, that we are to use it wisely. By doing so, we will make ourselves friends as a result of those acts of mercy. And I'm sure that there's truth in the fact that we will indeed ingratiate ourselves to the people that we help.

But it is difficult to see how this relates to being received into everlasting habitations. if we understand that as being heavenly glory. What connection is there, really, to those of us who understand grace and the general teaching and tenor of the gospel? What connection is there to our eligibility or access into glory? with respect to the things that we do in this world. It surely gives too much weight to the idea that heavenly blessings are related to or dependent upon works on earth.

So again, I'm leaning on Mr Hawker here, but he has taught me so much and he has taught me so well on other things that I'm happy to acknowledge his views on this matter as well. Hawker suggests that the Lord's meaning is that the Lord's people should make it our deepest desire to make friends with God. That is what the Lord is driving at here, and that is what he is teaching his disciples.

That we are to make it our deepest desire to make friends with God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. While we live in this world, filled as it is with the mammon of unrighteousness, filled as it is with the principles and practices of the fallen creatures that we live amongst. We are not to make ourselves friends in and to the world, but we are to be a friend of God by faith and by trust in the covenant promises of God's grace.

And James, you might remember in our studies in James, we made a reference to the fact that James speaks of Abraham as one who was called the friend of God. And it's an amazing fact that God has bestowed upon us his affections and allowed us to call him our friend. It's chapter 2 and verse 23 of James. It says, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God.

So that here we see the connection. There is this faith, there is believing, there is this imputation of righteousness by which we are accepted in the beloved. And that faith is the ground of our friendship, our relationship with God. Believers are distinctly curious creatures.

It is as we trust Him in this world, where everything else is founded on sensuality, is founded on materialism, and is founded upon the pleasure that can be had in our experiences, that our true experience of God at a spiritual level is to be felt and enjoyed through faith in Him. And when we fail, not in when we make mistakes or when we get things wrong or when we do things inappropriately, but when we fail in the sense of when this flesh fails, when these bodies fail, when our minds fail, as all flesh and blood and ultimately the whole world must fail, then we will be welcomed into everlasting habitations by the will of God and our experience of glory with the Lord. Hawker says, if this sense be admitted, The doctrine is agreeable to the whole tenor of the gospel. And then from the same kind of reasoning, he says, the proverbial expressions which follow in the succeeding verses may be explained on the same principles.

The Lord Jesus says in John 15, 15, Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. To be a friend of God is the highest honour a man or a woman can have. The foundation of this friendship is God's love to us in Christ Jesus and all that the Lord has accomplished and fulfilled in his covenant obligations for our salvation and reconciliation. Abraham's friendship with God was the effect of God's fellowship and his friendship to Abraham. and by the imputation to him of righteousness, which he gave to him in this unrighteous world. It is God's friendship which is the sole cause of our blessedness and our standing. and our privilege is to trust him who has shown us his love and his mercy and his grace in Christ our Saviour. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.

The Unjust Steward

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about stewardship?

How do we know that God's grace saves us?

Why is being a friend of God important for Christians?

What does 'mammon of unrighteousness' mean?

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About Peter L. Meney

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The Unjust Steward

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about stewardship?

How do we know that God's grace saves us?

Why is being a friend of God important for Christians?

What does 'mammon of unrighteousness' mean?

Sermon Transcript

About Peter L. Meney

Comments

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