INTRODUCTION:

1. This parable has been greatly misunderstood because it seems as though our Lord is commending a crook (16:8).
2. Now, it is true that this steward was a crook but when we look at this story carefully we see that our Lord was certainly not commending him for his dishonesty.
3. Let us look at the context: Our Lord was dealing with many of the erroneous attitudes of the Pharisees.

1. Their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).
2. Their pride (Luke 14:11).
3. Their murmuring (Luke 15:2).
4. Their refusal to repent (Luke 15:29).
5. Their covetousness (Luke 16:14, 15). It is in this context – i.e., their covetousness and hypocrisy – that our Lord gives this parable (cf. Luke 20:46, 47).

 

I. A CHRISTIAN CANNOT GROW PROPERLY UNTIL HE UNDERSTANDS CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP

1. One of the great missionary leaders of the 19th century was A.T. Pierson. For many years he edited a publication called The Missionary Review of the World. He said: “Our Lord’s teachings as to money gifts, if obeyed, would forever banish all limitations on church work and all concern about supplies…The basis of Christ’s teaching about money is the fundamental conception of stewardship (Luke 12:42; 16:1-8). Not only money, but every gift of God, is received in trust for His use. Man is not an owner, but a trustee, managing another’s goods and estates, God being the one original inalienable Owner of all. The two things required of stewards are that they be `faithful and wise,’ that they study to employ God’s gifts with fidelity and sagacity – fidelity so that God’s entrustments be not perverted to self-indulgence; sagacity, so that they be converted into as large gains as possible” (The Fundamentals, Volume IV, pp. 255,256, italics in original).
2. I would like for you to note that word “sagacity.” This speaks of keen and farsighted discernment. Webster’s Dictionary defines “sagacity” as “readiness of apprehension; the faculty of readily discerning and distinguishing ideas, and of separating truth from falsehood.”
3. I believe this is the key to our Lord’s parable of the unjust steward.
4. Too many Christians lack sagacity and they lack discernment, and they cannot separate truth from falsehood.
5. Far too many Christians are more concerned with present gains than they are with future blessings.
6. Unfortunately, too many Christians are more concerned with worldly pleasures and comforts then they are with the advancement of the Gospel.
7. In this parable, our Lord is contrasting the shrewdness of worldly people with the thoughtlessness of Christian people (Luke 16:8).
8. This parable deals with the principles of Christian stewardship. A steward is a man who has charge of another man’s goods. For example, Eliezer was the steward in Abraham’s house (Gen. 15:2).
9. Eliakim was “over the household” of King Hezekiah (II Kings 18:18). This meant that these men, Eliezer and Eliakim, managed everything for their masters, Abraham and King Hezekiah.
10. In the Bible, Christians are called “stewards” because we have been put in charge of God’s creation. We are to manage things for our Lord and Master.
11. All that we have, rightfully belongs to God – this forms the basis for Christian stewardship. “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (I Cor. 4:2).
12. The steward in our Lord’s parable was wasting his employer’s goods. The employer represents God. Please allow me to ask you tonight: Are you guilty of wasting God’s goods? Are you a faithful steward?
13. This steward was doing a poor job, and was losing money for the rich man either by incompetence, stealing, or both.
14. Finally, his day of reckoning had come (Luke 16:1, 2). And some day your day of reckoning will come, and so will mine. The Bible says, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).
15. This steward realized that he was in trouble (Luke 16:3). It seemed to him that he had only two options and he did not like either one: hard, manual labor (“I cannot dig”), or begging, which was humiliating to him (“to beg I am ashamed”).
16. Today, our government has taken the shame out of begging. According to U.S. Census Bureau data released last October, in 2011 some 49.2 percent of U.S. households received benefits from one or more government programs – about 151 million out of an estimated 306.8 million Americans.
17. This means nearly half of Americans are dependent upon the government for a hand-out. It is even worse in Europe, which will soon implode.
18. By the way, you will note that the unjust steward was ashamed to beg but not to steal (16:3b)!
19. He came up with an idea – he figured out a scheme by which he could win friends who would then show kindness to him when he was in need (16:4).
20. His plan was dishonest (16:5-7). These customers owed money to the rich man but rather than collecting the full amount, he was settling for a smaller amount. The first debtor paid only half of what he owed (16:5, 6), and the second paid 80 cents on the dollar (16:7).

 

II. THE UNGODLY SHOW MORE WISDOM IN PROVIDING FOR THEIR FUTURE IN THIS WORLD, THAN CHRISTIANS SHOW IN LAYING UP TREASURES IN HEAVEN (16:8).

1. Our Lord was not commending the unjust steward for his dishonesty, but for his shrewd foresight and prudence – what A.T. Pierson called “sagacity.”
2. Unsaved people use material wealth to prepare for their earthly future – we should be using it to prepare for our eternal future (Matthew 6:19-21, 24; cf. Luke 16:13).
3. Our Lord calls money the “mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16:9). A.T. Pierson compared mammon with the golden calf that was made out of the ear-rings and jewels of the Israelites. “The golden calf may in turn be melted down and coined into Bibles, churches, books, tracts, and even souls of men” (italics his).
4. Money is called the mammon of unrighteousness because it is characteristically used for purposes other than the glory of God.
5. Money in itself is not evil – it is the love of money that is the root of all evil (I Timothy 6:9, 10).
6. We are to make friends of (or “by means of”) the mammon of unrighteousness (Luke 16:9). What our Lord is saying here is that we should carefully use our money and other resources in such a way as to win souls for Christ and thus form friendships that will endure throughout all eternity.
7. We are investing in God’s work when we send out missionaries, preach the Gospel and put the messages online, distribute Bibles and tracts, teach the Bible to children in our Sunday School, and so on. With this investment, souls are saved and we are laying up treasures in heaven.
8. Remember what Dr. Pierson said? “Our Lord’s teachings as to money gifts, if obeyed, would forever banish all limitations on church work and all concern about supplies.” I believe he was exactly right.
9. Last week I preached about Jacob’s vow to God that he would give one-tenth of all his income to God, and I quoted W.H. Griffith Thomas, who said, “If only some of those who are inclined to criticize Jacob would do what he promised and give the tenth of their income to God, what a different state of affairs would obtain in connection with God's work at home and abroad!” (Genesis).
10. F.B. Meyer said, “The Church would have no lack if every one of its members acted upon this principle.”
11. When we give the way God wants us to give, we are making friends for eternity and they will receive us “into everlasting habitations” (16:9).

 

III. CHRISTIANS WHO ARE NOT FAITHFUL GIVERS ARE STUNTING THEIR SPIRITUAL GROWTH (16:10-12).

1. My first point was that a Christian cannot grow properly unless he understands Christian stewardship. My second point was that the ungodly show more wisdom in providing for their future in this world than Christians show in laying up treasures in heaven.
2. I would like to follow along on this same train of thought now and emphasize that Christians who are not faithful givers are stunting their spiritual growth.
3. Why is it that some Christians stop drinking and smoking, stop cursing, stop watching TV, etc., but when it comes to giving, their necks get stiff, their hearts get hard, their minds get confused, and their hands get numb when the collection plate gets passed around?
4. They are like the little girl who was given two dollars by her father before she left for Sunday School – one for the offering and one for candy for herself. She tripped and lost one of the dollars and said, “Oh well Lord, there goes your dollar!”
5. Let me stop here for a moment and remind you that the Lord is not as concerned with how much you give as He is with how much you keep for yourself. The story of the widow and her two mites is a good illustration of this (Luke 21:1-4).
6. A tax assessor was interviewing a godly, elderly widow one day. She told him, “I am very rich.” The tax assessor looked around her little cottage, took out his book and said, “Please list your possessions.”
7. The widow replied, “First, I have eternal life; second, a mansion in heaven; third, joy unspeakable and peace that passeth understanding.” The assessor put away his book, and said, “You are indeed a rich woman but none of your riches are taxable.”
8. Neither were her riches purchasable!
9. Notice that our Lord does not say: He that is faithful in that which is least will be faithful also in much – but rather, He says: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least (meaning money) is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10).
10. In man’s estimation, money is everything. But to God it is “least” (16:10; cf. 16:14, 15).
11. And if God cannot trust us with that which is “least,” then He cannot trust us with “the true riches” (16:11). Let me ask you tonight, do you want the true riches?
12. The value of money is only temporal; the value of the true riches is eternal.
13. A Mexican pastor once told me too many people give God “limosna.” Beloved, God does not want our “limosna” – He wants our best.

 

CONCLUSION:

1. One day a group of men was having a discussion and after a while the subject turned to money. One fellow said, “Money can buy anything.”
2. A wealthy merchant heard the remark and said, “I will give $5,000 to anyone who can name just four desirable things which money cannot buy.”
3. Little believing that anyone could meet the challenge, he smiled confidently when the man sitting across the table took out a piece of paper and started writing.
4. After scribbling four short lines, the challenger passed the paper to the wealthy merchant. The merchant read it, read it over again, and then took out his checkbook and wrote the man a check for $5,000.00. Do you know what the man wrote?

1. a baby’s smile
2. youth after it is gone
3. the love of a good woman
4. entrance into heaven.