The Parable of the Unjust Steward

Everything that you have, everything that I have. comes from God. We don't own it. He does. We are stewards.

in the kingdom of God. And God requires from us not unjust stewardship. But just stewardship. Managing our finances well is part of what it means to be a good steward. But as you just heard from RC Sproll, stewardship extends to much more than money.

Ultimately, we're called to be responsible and generous with all of the resources that the Lord has given to us. It's good to be back with you for another Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind. On this Lord's Day, Dr. Sprohl will help us reflect on what it means to be faithful servants of God. as he teaches on the parable of the unjust steward.

Next Sunday will be our final message in the Gospel of Luke. But you can keep studying this book by receiving R. C. Sproll's expositional commentary on Luke. This resource compiles over 100 sermons from Dr.

Sproll's teaching ministry. Just go to renewingyourmind.org to give, or you can use the link in the podcast show notes. Let's listen now as R. C. Sproll explores the parable of the unjust steward.

This morning we're going to begin a brand new chapter in our study of the Gospel of Luke. The 16th chapter, I'm going to start reading at verse 1 and read through verse 13. He also said to his disciples, there was a certain rich man who had a steward. And an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

So he called him and said to him, What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship. For you can no longer be Stewart. And then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my master is taking the stewardship away from me.

I cannot dig and I'm ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do that when I am put out of the stewardship They may receive me into their houses. and so he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, How much do you owe my master? And he said a hundred measures of oil. And so he said, Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty.

Then he said to another, And how much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him, Take your bill and write Eighty.

So the master commended the unjust lord and because he had dealt shrewdly. for the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail they may receive you into an everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least, is faithful also in much. And he who is unjust in what is least, is unjust also in much.

Therefore, if you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, Who will commit your trust? To the true riches. And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, Or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God.

And Mammon. The story starts out in a rather simple way. Jesus tells the parable of a man who was wealthy and who had a steward. There's nothing difficult or unusual about that. That was common in the ancient Jewish community: that if a person was a person of means, they would hire a manager who would live in the home and who would be responsible for managing the property and the assets.

of the owner. Of course, the one who was the steward. Did not own the assets he managed. They belonged to the master. Nevertheless, he was responsible and had the authority to go with that responsibility to make decisions in the name of the master.

That were basically legally binding decisions. And so we read in this story. That this steward had an accusation brought against him by his master. That he was wasting his goods.

Now in the parable of the prodigal son, We saw one dimension of what happens to people Who waste their goods and waste their lives. But in this story, it's a different situation of wasting. The steward is not wasting his own money. He's wasting the money that belongs. To his master.

And so, when the master becomes aware of it, he calls him to him and said, What is this I hear? Give an account of what you were doing. For you can no longer be steward. You're fired. is what the Master is saying.

You're finished. I've been looking at the books. I see what you're doing. And you can no longer represent me. or to manage my property.

And so the steward said within himself What am I going to do now? for my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig and I'm ashamed to beg. I don't have any other skills. All I know is how to manage the property.

Of a master. I'm not qualified to do anything else. I can't even dig a ditch. And I'm too proud. to sit on the corner with a tin cup.

And beg.

So he says, I've got to come up with a solution. To my dilemma. Because this man obviously faced the most serious crisis of his career. And so he said, I have resolved what to do.

So that when I'm put out of the stewardship They meaning others, the debtors. may receive me into their houses. And so he called every one of his master's debtors to him, And Jesus only reports of What happens in the transaction with two of those debtors? But presumably the same thing. was done with the rest of them.

But he said to the first one, How much do you owe my master? The man said a hundred measures of oil. And so The man said, take your bill. Sit down quickly. And right.

Fifty. And then he said to another, How much do you owe? He said a hundred measures of wheat. And he said, take your bell. And write eighty.

Now let's Pause for a moment and see what's going on here with these transactions between the ex-steward and the debtors. In Jewish law, it was prohibited To charge usurious interest for loans. But the way in which business people got around it. was to increase the interest In the total Charge for the product. And the oil industry, which was very significant, the use of olive oil.

Had a threatening dimension to it with respect to the preservation of the products and so on. And so it was commonplace to mark up the price of oil By 100%. All of that included the raw costs of the oil plus the hidden. usury or high interest. And so the markup was 100%.

And the steward knew that. And so he said to the debtor, he said, look, I'm going to change your bill in behalf of my master. I'm going to cut the cost. down by a hundred percent. And can you imagine the joy of the debtor when he realized that he only owed half as much as he had owed before the steward walked in his store and changed the bill?

In like manner, the cost of wheat had a lesser spoilage problem, and so the markup on wheat. Was normally 20 to 25%.

So, in the case of the man who owed 100 bushels of wheat, the stored market down 20%. To 80. Did away with all of the usury. Did away with all. of the interest charges that were hidden in the price.

And once again made a great friend of that debtor.

Now of course this steward was not doing this. out of the goodness of his heart. He was doing this to feather his own nest. He knew he was fired, and he knew he had nowhere to go, and so he was going out making friends with all of the debtors by cutting their bills radically. By the way, if you don't know what usury is, exorbitant rates of interest, look at the interest charges by so called loan sharks.

They're very heavy. And Ysorius. only to be exceeded by your normal credit card companies. I'm serious about that. The interest rates charged by credit card companies in this country are as usurious as it gets.

And it's plain wicked, don't get yourself ensnared by them. But in any case. The master finds out now what the steward has done. And instead of coming to him and saying, you dirty rotten crook, What have you done? You've cost me all this money.

You're more incompetent than I thought you were. Instead, in the parable, Jesus has the master. Commending him. For his actions. Notice what he says.

So the master commended the unjust steward, Not because he dealt unjustly. He didn't praise him for his dishonesty. He didn't salute him for his corruption. Rather, Jesus said he praised him. For being so shrewd.

And so He makes this point of application. That the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation Than the Sons of Light. This isn't all that unusual. For Jesus to talk like this. Remember elsewhere we were told to be wise as serpents, And harmless As doves.

And We've just done the opposite of that. usually in our actions as Christians. were harmless as doves. But we're also as foolish has them as well. We're not shrewd.

We don't think strategically. We don't concern ourselves. For the long haul. for the long range, and certainly not for eternity. And what is going to follow will show that Jesus' basic concern here.

Is it just as this? Unjust Stewart. Looked out for his well-being for tomorrow.

So Believers. are to look out for their future. In heaven. And yet in this cause that which Jesus is addressing, The central matter Is Bonnie. And so now the parable gets even more complex.

Where he says to His disciples. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves. By unrighteous mammon, That when you fail they may receive you into an everlasting home. For he who is faithful in what is least Is faithful also in much. And he who is unjust.

in what is least Is unjust also. In much. Therefore, if you've not been faithful, In the unrighteous mammon. Who will commit to your trust? The true Riches.

Now one of the methods by which Jesus taught parables. was by a method of contrast and comparison. One of the frequent things that he does is uses the concept of how much more. We will see that later on, God willing in the parable of the unjust judge, who was a man who regarded neither God nor men, and he was corrupt. He took bribes, but he wasn't interested in dispensing justice.

And there was this woman who kept pursuing him, the important woman, who begged him and bothered him and bestered him until finally. He decided to hear her case even though he didn't want to be bothered. And of course, later on, Jesus says, How much more? Does God hear the cries of his people? than a crooked, corrupt judge.

Well listen if you pester him enough. Not only will God hear your prayers, But how much more will he hear them? And so what Jesus is saying here, if people in the secular world who are unbelievers are shrewd and smart enough to look out for their best interests for tomorrow, how much more? Should the people of God Be looking. To the future.

of heaven. And if The corrupt Person is smart enough As a steward to manage his money well, how much more? Is it incumbent upon the children of light? to manage there Money As God requires.

Now when he says make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, he's not saying go out and steal money from people. Unrighteous mammon is an idiom that was used in that day simply to describe Worldly goods.

So Jesus is saying, be careful. About how you use your worldly goods. Because every one of us has some worldly goods. And every one of us is a steward. Of that worldly goods.

Everything that you have, everything that I have. comes from God. We don't own it. He does. We are stewards.

in the kingdom of God. And God requires from us Not unjust stewardship. But just stewardship. Then he goes on to say. He was faithful in what is least.

He is faithful also in much. He was unjust in what is least. Is unjust also. In much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

It's a rhetorical question. The answer is obviously God's not going to. If you're not faithful. With how you handle your worldly goods In terms of the kingdom of God. If everything else comes first.

And you give God what's left. How can you expect him? to bless your life. The one time in Scripture that God says to his people, test me. Put me to the test.

Be good Stewarts. Bring in your tithe and your offerings. And see if I don't open. The heavens For your life. I've told you this before.

The next time I meet a person who's a tither, who tells me that they regret it. will be the first time. What a great joy. What a great privilege it is to give something little Back. To the God of all grace.

Who gives us everything? every good and perfect gift. Out of his bounty. And if you're not faithful in these things, Who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you've not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what's your own?

And then Jesus drives the point. Even further, no servant Conserve two masters. Can you imagine going to the slave mart in the ancient world and see that a fine young specimen for a slave like a Joseph, is put on the market. And one of the men says, I bid.

So many denarii. For this slave and another bidder says I bid so many denarians. They get in a bidding war over who's going to own the slave. And finally, the slave auctioneer says, tell you what we're going to do. I'm going to give you joint ownership over this slave.

You can both own them. Slave? You have to serve this master, and now slave, you have to serve that master. And the slave said, well, wait a minute, what if they disagree? What do I do then?

This is punt. 'Cause there's not much else to do. You can't do it. You can't serve your worldly goods. And serve the kingdom of God.

If your worldly goods are your master, Christ cannot be your master. And if Christ is your Master, Your worldly goods. Can't be your master, is that? It's not rocket science. That's very simple.

This is what Jesus is saying. But you want to have both. You want to have Jesus as your Lord. And rob him every Sunday. Can't be done.

For either he will hate the one and love the other. or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

Now Jesus doesn't say you may not serve God and mammon. He says you can't. You cannot serve God. And Mammon. I've preached about Stewardship.

Tithing The biblical responsibilities that we have. Because it's my duty. Because I'm responsible to let you know what your responsibilities are. I always do it reluctantly. And I have to tell you this.

As many times as I've ever spoken on this subject, Only once. Have I had somebody come up to me?

Now they may not be the only one, but I've only had one person come to me and say, Now I understand it. I have not been a tither. But from this day forward I'm going to meet my responsibility before God. One time. And so the message I get is You can preach all you want, preacher.

But I believe that's an Old Testament principle. It doesn't apply today. Or I can't afford it. Being translated, I can't live my present lifestyle. And give 10% of my annual Income.

to God. And so I feel like I'm on a fool's errand. But the word of God will not return to him void. And that there's still a shield on your heart. Take it off.

And if not, ask yourself. Am I really a regenerate person? Because, like I said, I think it's possible for a person to really be. A reborn, regenerated. Christian and not ties.

I think that's possible. Yeah. I just don't know how that can be. This isn't a big thing that he's asking you to go. Get burned at the stake or thrown to the lions in the Circus Maximus?

No. Jesus calls us a little thing. And when Jesus asked you to tithe. He's asking for a little thing. And if you can't give them the little thing.

How can you really Worship him. And honour him. This is a serious thing. A serious question of your soul. That's why I lay in bed at night and keep awake wondering Do they hear it?

Do they get it? Do they love the Word of God? Or is this cultural Christianity we're doing here? But as long as there's one sheep out there. In the wilderness.

Fleeing from their responsibility, I'm not going to sleep well. Because this is something we all are called to do. Again, dear ones. You're not accountable to me. on this matter.

I didn't make the rule. But you are accountable to God. And I'm accountable to God. to make sure that you know. Wear your accountability.

lies and so ask yourself What kind of steward? Am I? A just one? or an unjust one. Reflecting on our stewardship has a way of revealing what's important to us, doesn't it?

May God help us to grow in our knowledge of and love for Him, that we might use all of our resources to live for his glory. You've been listening to a message from RC Sprawl on the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind. Yeah. Knowing God truly is the foundation of the Christian life. And that's why the theme of Ligonier Ministries National Conference next year is the glorious attributes of God.

I want to invite you to join us in Orlando on April 1st through 3rd to hear speakers like Michael Reeves, H.B. Charles Jr., and Sinclair Ferguson as they help us to reflect on God's character. We'll also have breakout seminars at this event where our speakers will help us consider. how to apply the truth about who God is to all areas of life. Areas like parenting.

Marriage and the workplace. You can save 35% on your registration today when you sign up with the Early Bird discount. This promotional rate is only available until October 17th, so be sure to register before the rate ends to secure your spot. You can sign up today at ligoneer.org slash 2027. The kingdom of God requires more than just a half-hearted pursuit.

Join us next Sunday as RC Sproll calls us to devote ourselves earnestly to the word and work of the Lord here on Renewing Your Mind.